Changes and Choices
by Anyankaholic
Summary: It has been years since Sunnydale fell and Buffy has settled nicely into her new life at NCIS with her husband, Tony. But will the next apocalypse and Angel's arrival destroy everything she worked to achieve? Buffy/Angel/NCIS
1. New Life

**Changes and Choices**

_Disclaimer: I do not own "Buffy: the Vampire Slayer," "Angel," or "NCIS."_

_A/N: This story is a crossover between "Buffy: the Vampire Slayer," "Angel," and "NCIS." It takes place seven years after "Buffy: the Vampire Slayer" ends and, obviously, six years after "Angel" ends. This story ignores the comics. For "NCIS," it is somewhat AU and takes place about a year or so after Jenny Shepherd died._

**Chapter 1**

**New Life**

Gibbs strode into Leon Vance's antechamber as if he owned the place. He was angry about FBI interference on his latest case … or something.

To be honest, Ellie, Vance's secretary, did not care what Special Agent Gibbs was angry about. "You can't go in there," Ellie said evenly. "He's on a conference call."

Gibbs made to ignore Ellie, but she was standing between him and the office door in a flash. "I said: You can't go in there. Not now. But feel free to wait."

Back when Cynthia had still been the director's secretary—Jenny's at that time—Gibbs would have just gone around her and flung open the director's doors anyway. But not now. Ellie stood blocking his way with her arms folded across her chest and one foot tapping in irritation. Her blond hair was in a no-nonsense ponytail and her green eyes fixed him to the spot. She even made her short stature seem imposing; Gibbs felt very small when she glared at him.

This was one of the reasons Vance had kept her after Jenny had died; she was one of the only people who could control Gibbs. If people knew what was good for them, they did not cross Elizabeth Dinozzo.

Gibbs maintained their staring contest for another thirty seconds before sighing and taking a seat. Ellie sat herself back down behind her desk and grinned at Gibbs. Although he glared back, she knew he was not angry with her. Gibbs liked her; the whole team liked her. When she had first taken over the secretary role from Cynthia, they had been very hostile to her, seeing her as an irritating pencil-pusher whose job was to place stumbling blocks in front of them. Later they had realized that she could make things happen, make certain files appear across the director's desk and so on; being nice to Ellie was good for one's job and one's health.

Ellie could not deny that at times she missed the physicality of being the Slayer. While she enjoyed aspects of her job as the director's secretary, she sometimes felt pent up. She would lean over the railing and look down into the bullpen, watching her husband, Tony, and his team horsing around. Sometimes she missed doing that with her own team.

But she had given up being the Slayer. She had given up being the one to whom everyone looks. She had finally accomplished what she had striven for all throughout high school—she was finally a normal girl. She had a good job that did not require her skills as the Slayer. She had a sweet and caring, if somewhat immature, husband. She had good friends, namely Ziva and Abby. What more could she really want?

Becoming Ellie had not been easy. When she had been Buffy she had become accustomed to always having things her way and now she was just a little girl that no one _really_ listened to. Sure, she could stare Gibbs down, but when it came to really important things, he would just ignore her. He once actually picked her up off her feet and placed her to the side so he could stride into the director's office. She had been so angry, but, biting down her Slayer instincts, had gone to her husband instead of seeking retribution herself. They had glued Gibbs' phone down, resulting in a head-slap for Tony and a wry expression for Ellie.

After Sunnydale became a sinkhole, Buffy had initially followed the Scoobies. They went to Los Angeles, got patched up, and then bought tickets for England. That was when Buffy finally had had enough. They kept rushing her to go there, do this. She needed time and space and they just weren't giving it to her. They didn't understand that she just wasn't all gung-ho about going to England and setting up the new Council.

She backed out, told them she wasn't going with them, and they were so angry. She could remember it like it was yesterday.

"What do you mean you aren't coming?" Willow had asked, completely panicking.

"I'm done," Buffy had responded, shrugging. "I am just too tired to keep doing this. I've been the Slayer for seven long years. I can't keep this up. I'm done."

"But what about us?" Dawn had asked, fat tears already spilling from her eyes.

"What about you?" Buffy had repeated calmly, her voice lacking the venom that her retort could have had. She had just sounded tired … tired and resigned. She didn't want to hurt the Scoobies; enough people had been hurt already. "You guys kicked me out. Not the other way around. You made it very clear that you didn't need me."

"But we do need you!" Dawn had cried. Then, lowering her voice, she had said, "We love you."

"I love you too, Dawn. But I can't keep doing this. I pulled it together for the battle against the First, but I can't keep being your punching bag. I need to take time for myself. I need to reevaluate who I am. I worked with you guys for the battle and I made nice, but I can't keep working with you now. It was an emergency situation then. I couldn't turn my back on the girls." Buffy had taken a deep breath and then had continued: "But now that it's over, I can turn my back on you."

"What does that mean?" Xander had snapped, all bluster, a real tempest in a teapot.

Before Buffy could even begin to construe a response, Faith had jumped in. "It means she's done, yo," Faith had defended. "Just leave her alone."

Xander had made to say something more, but Faith had placed herself between Xander and Buffy, literally, and said "drop it" in a low, dangerous voice. Buffy nodded once to Faith to thank her.

And with that, Buffy had just walked away.

She had not contacted any of the Scoobies since then and she found that, as time went on, she missed them less and less.

Directly after walking away, Buffy remembered how difficult it was just to start over. She had tried it when she was seventeen and she had known she had to try it again now. But she couldn't do it alone. Not again. Without making a conscious plan, Buffy had let her feet guide her and, before she had even registered where she was going, she had been standing outside Wolfram & Hart.

She had wandered around the building, somewhat aimlessly, until she found herself outside of Angel's new office. After taking a deep breath, Buffy had walked inside, nervous, her heart doing a frantic samba, her stomach almost upset.

Angel had been glad to see her. He was always glad to see her. He had asked how her baking was going and she had just laughed, given him a noncommittal guffaw that had told him to back off. Angel had smilingly—since when did he smile?—retreated.

He had not been smiling by the end of their conversation though. Buffy had wanted out. Angel had understood that and he had wanted to help her, greatly. He had been worried for her though. Although he had been in a hell dimension the last time Buffy had run away, he knew all about it, all about the dinghy apartment, all about the crap waitressing job, all about the depression. He had not wanted for her to go back to that. That was why he had done all he could to help her; he had put the complete resources of the newly acquired Wolfram & Hart to work.

He had provided her with a new name—Elizabeth Anne Merrick—and gotten the dean of a DC college to admit her. Buffy—now going by Ellie—had graduated with honors at 25, receiving a bachelor's degree in Art History, or what Angel called "a useless degree." Ellie had thought that, as an artist himself, Angel would have been able to appreciate her major, but he had merely countered that, in the old days, everyone of class knew about art and studied something else to be useful. She had argued that, "in the old days," she would not have been educated in anything, would have been married off, and would have been a young mother.

Although she had cut off all contact with the Scoobies with the help of some Wolfram & Hart magical anti-tracking equipment, she had maintained her contact with Angel and his group—at least at first. She had been outraged on Angel's behalf at how the Council had treated him during the Dana situation and she had been amused to hear from him that the Council had transformed one of the Slayers to look like her, to keep everyone calm. How could her old friends stay in power if people thought they were powerless to control their greatest weapon?

Although Ellie considered Angel to be her greatest friend, she had not seen him in six years, not since Angel had brought down Wolfram & Hart. Buffy had flown in, glad to see Angel, Wesley, and the others. Even Spike. She had arrived near the end of the battle; Wesley and Gunn were already dead. Spike died not long afterward. Angel would have died had Faith not arrived when she did. Faith was the only one from the new Council who came. Buffy was almost more furious at their betrayal of Angel and Wesley than at their betrayal of her. The Scoobies had definitely been in a bad place when they had stomped on her heart and kicked her out of her own house; what was their excuse with Angel? Things were going well for them—they just did not care enough.

By the end of the battle, Angel was injured but alive and Illyria was following him around like a little puppy dog. Faith and Ellie were exhausted, but no worse for the wear. The four of them had gotten spectacularly drunk together and dealt with the funeral arrangements together. It was peaceful, homey. They kept the grief from overpowering each other and they shared anecdotes. Also, Illyria drunk was quite the humorous sight. Despite the pain, the healing had already begun. Less than a week later, Faith had gone back to the Council, where she did not talk about the events of Los Angeles, and Ellie had gone back to DC.

She had joined NCIS right after earning her bachelor's degree, filling in for Cynthia, who was on maternity leave. Jenny Shepherd had liked her and gave her the job permanently when Cynthia left to spend more time with her baby. She had met Tony soon after. At first she thought he was a real piece of work. Every time she saw him, she could not help but roll her eyes. He was ridiculous. She had seen suave men before, and Tony Dinozzo—in her opinion—left something to be desired.

But he had been persistent. Tony could not understand how Jenny's new secretary was ignoring his charm. He considered his charm to be his greatest attribute, with a close second being his fanatical knowledge of film.

Ellie had eventually broken down and things moved quickly after that. Plain and simple, they loved each other. Ellie had experienced "true love" before and grown tired with the classification. She would never call what they had "true love." But it was love and that was enough for her. Tony never called their relationship "true love" either—he often just called it "Bogey and Bacall."

Ellie was now comfortable in her life. She was twenty-nine, had been married for two years, and was Leon Vance's personal secretary. Slaying was in her past. She had not so much as patrolled in three years. She worried about normal, mundane things. What should they eat for dinner that night: Chinese or Italian (as neither of them could cook)? Should they have kids or wait another year to revisit the issue? She finally had the life she had always claimed she wanted as a teenager. She was normal.

~ x ~ x ~ x ~

Across town, in DC's warehouse district, a young woman ran as fast as she could. The chain still around her right ankle was slowing her down greatly, but she knew she could not give up. Soon those monsters would catch up with her. She had to keep moving. She gasped as she heard a terrible noise—it sounded like twisting, screaming metal and the laughs of hyenas. She began to cry harder and run faster.

She heard the noise again and looked back to see how many were behind her … when she ran into something solid. She felt the monster's strong arms wrap around her, pressing her chest to its broad, barrel chest. She tried to escape but it was too strong. It dragged her back to the center of the warehouse while its cohorts crowded around.

She screamed as the knife plunged into her abdomen, freeing her blood to pool in the center of the pentagram as the creatures around her chanted.

x TBC x

_If you liked it, please review._


	2. An Unwelcome Visitor

**Changes and Choices**

_Disclaimer: I do not own "Buffy: the Vampire Slayer," "Angel," or "NCIS."_

**Chapter 2**

**An Unwelcome Visitor**

Ellie awoke with a start. She had had nightmares before, but she knew that this was more than that. It was a Slayer dream. It was becoming a bit fuzzy, but there had definitely been a girl running … in a warehouse. She had been stabbed. Ellie shuddered. This dream reminded her of her dreams back in Sunnydale. All those potential Slayers, snuffed out.

She knew she should contact someone, but who. She and Angel had fallen out of touch about a year after Wolfram & Hart fell. She wanted the nice, ordinary life. She had not spoken to him in four years, not since she had fallen in love with Tony. Angel had argued with her, telling her that she could not keep her true self a secret, that she had to tell Tony, her boyfriend at the time, the truth about being the Slayer if the relationship were serious. She had disagreed. She knew that if she wanted a nice, normal life, she could not drag demons into it. She hadn't spoken to Angel again, not even to tell him when she and Tony became engaged and then married.

Ellie simply could not tell anyone. The others—Angel or the new Watchers Council or … someone—would deal with it. They didn't need her. She had a life to live.

"What's up?" asked Tony, rolling over and seeing the disturbed look on his wife's face.

"Nothing," she replied, smiling and decidedly shrugging off the nightmare. "I'm going to go for a run."

Ellie and Tony had a routine all worked out. Every morning Ellie went for a five-mile run while Tony slept an extra half hour. Then they brushed their teeth together and showered together. Then, while Ellie ironed out their clothes for the day, Tony made them breakfast. It wasn't that Tony made a great or varied breakfast, it was just that Ellie in the kitchen was almost always a disaster. She had once nearly burnt their apartment down trying to boil water. They ate breakfast, got dressed, and drove into work. It was a routine that some might call boring, but Ellie called it normal and she loved every minute of it.

The morning at work went normally too. Ellie quickly settled into the rhythm of her work day, taking care of anything and everything that Vance needed. Had someone told her ten years ago that she was going to be a secretary, she would have laughed and called them crazy. While the work wasn't particularly stimulating, it kept her busy and put bread on her table. That was all she really needed. She got all the stimulation she needed, both physical and intellectual, from Tony.

That morning was unnaturally crazy though. There had been some sort of threat against the Secretary of the Navy in Los Angeles, so, although the LA team was handling his protection, she still had to transfer an inordinate amount of phone calls, fax an inordinate amount of paperwork, and still do her regular job. Luckily the threat was resolved by 1:30 p.m. and Ellie decided to take a late lunch.

Some days she got lunch with Tony, but most days she didn't. Her forty-five-minute lunch hour was her one time during the day when no one was pestering her for anything and when she could just relax. It was nice. She usually went to one of the little cafes near the NCIS headquarters and ordered a shockingly large amount of food. She may not be slaying anymore, but she still had a Slayer's metabolism, and her morning run didn't help matters any.

For today's lunch, Ellie went to the sandwich place located a half-mile away; it was an easy jog for her. She was almost done with her lunch—four sandwiches and two Cokes—when an unwelcome acquaintance slid into the seat across from her.

"Whistler," she growled, not even trying to keep the menace out of her voice.

"Hey Slayer," he responded with his strong New York accent. In that moment Ellie hated him; she hated him more than anyone. And it wasn't because of his complete lack of fashion sense. Or because he was digging between his teeth with a toothpick while she was trying to eat. Or because he was smirking at her with the self-righteous air that only the PTB had. It was because he called her "Slayer." With one simple greeting, he was calling her back to a world she had vacated years ago and had no desire to rejoin.

"What do you want?" she ground out.

"You know what I want. You had the dream."

"So?" she challenged.

"So, aren't you going to do something about it? That girl died on your turf, Slayer."

"Not my problem," said Ellie, sounding much more resolute than she felt.

"Oh, really?" smirked Whistler.

"Really," said Ellie, getting up to leave.

Whistler grabbed her arm, pulling her back into her seat. She could have stopped him if she had wanted to; she could have thrown him clear across the shop. But she didn't. She did not want a scene … especially this close to the NCIS building.

"You have a responsibility, Slayer. Come on, kid, you can pretend you're done all you want, but we both know you aren't. You're still just as much the Powers' plaything as ever. You had a vacation—that's nice. It's over now. You need to come back into the fold. There is trouble brewing here and you need to stop it."

"No, I really don't," she argued. "What about the others? Huh? Why can't they stop it?"

"It needs to be you."

"Why? So that I can lose everything I have worked so hard for? So that I can be dragged back into the darkness and pain and depression? Is that what you want? For me to be broken again?" Ellie could feel hot tears sliding down her face and in that moment she hated herself—hated herself for showing weakness like this. Especially in front of Whistler. The last time she had seen him, her life had been destroyed. She had killed Angel. And here he was now, all ready to destroy her life again. And there she was, sobbing in the middle of a sandwich shop. She could see people looking at her suspiciously and she could only be thankful that she had remained quiet and that they had not heard her words. They hopefully just thought he was breaking up with her or something.

"I'm sorry, kiddo, I really am. But this is your fight, no one else's. I'll be in touch," said Whistler, finally letting go of her arm and getting up to leave.

Ellie just sat there, tears still trickling down her face. She shakily picked up her last sandwich and began to eat again.

Unfortunately for Ellie, Tim and Abby had walked in just as Whistler had grabbed her arm. "Who's that?" Abby had squeaked, pointing at their coworker's wife.

"I don't know," Tim had responded, about to stride over and help her.

"Wait," said Abby. "Ellie's not the kind of person who would want our help. Let's just wait and see." Tim agreed, albeit hesitantly. He knew Ellie was tough—any woman who could withstand the Gibbs glare for so long had to be tough. Still though, he knew Tony would be upset by the idea of some stranger grabbing his wife and Tim not doing anything to help her. Tim made to move again when Ellie burst into tears, but again Abby held him back.

"What are they saying?" asked Tim.

"I'm not sure," replied Abby. "I can only see Ellie's mouth and what she is saying doesn't seem to make much sense. When was she broken?"

The second after the sketchy-looking man had left, Tim and Abby approached Ellie. "Are you OK? Who was that guy?" questioned Abby, worried for her friend.

Ellie's head snapped up, her eyes wide like a deer caught in the headlights. "Wh-what are you guys doing here?"

"We're getting lunch," said Tim softly. "What just happened?"

"Nothing," muttered Ellie, struggling to collect herself. "Everything's fine."

"You're crying," pointed out Tim. "That doesn't seem fine."

"It's personal, OK?" snapped Ellie. "Just leave me alone."

"Look, if you're in some sort of trouble, we can help. Tony would move heaven and earth to help you out," said Tim. Beside him, Abby nodded enthusiastically.

"No," Ellie nearly shouted. "I don't need help. I'm fine. And don't you dare tell Tony about this, got it?" She then fixed them with a glare so powerful that Tim would gladly have angered Gibbs at that point just to get away from it.

"I g-got it," stuttered Tim.

Abby was not as easily persuaded, however, and, hands on her hips, she fixed Ellie with her own stare and told her, "We don't lie to our friends, and Tony is our friend."

"It's not a lie," argued Ellie, "it's an omission. And if you tell Tony about this, I will never forgive you." Without waiting for a reply, Ellie stood up and made her way out of the sandwich shop.

"What was that all about?" asked Tim.

"I don't know, but we're going to tell Tony, right?" asked Abby.

"I'm not sure if we should," replied Tim. "Ellie seemed really adamant that we not tell him. I mean, she would tell us if she were in trouble."

"Fine," huffed Abby, yet again amazed by Tim's behavior. Sometimes, just when she thought Tim was manning up, he would go and do something like this. Abby usually wouldn't tattle on someone, but Ellie was her friend and she was worried about her. Sometimes you had to do things your friends didn't like to protect them. That was why Abby made up her mind to tell Tony what she and Tim had seen.

She tried to get Tony's attention all day, but Tony was busy with the fallout from the threat against the Secretary of the Navy and Abby did not get a moment alone with him. She tried to broach the topic a few times with the rest of the team around, but each time Tim would shoot her a look and change the topic. Abby was getting more and more frustrated.

Finally, just as they were leaving for the day, Abby got her chance. While the rest of the team was packing up, Tim was in Vance's office discussing computer upgrades for the team. "Tony, we need to talk," she said, jumping right in.

"What is it? What's wrong?" asked Tony immediately.

Gibbs and Ziva drew closer as well, on the off-chance that Abby's problem would require their efforts to fix as well.

"Um … well … you see," began Abby, suddenly very unsure of herself.

"What is it?" asked Gibbs, direct and to the point as always.

Abby launched right into it, speaking about a mile a minute: "Well, Tim and I went for lunch today and we went to that sandwich shop, you the know the one, the one that sells that avocado sandwich that Ziva likes so much, but that Jimmy refuses to eat at because of that one time when … never mind, that's not important. Anyway, Ellie was there, eating lunch—she had four sandwiches, isn't that crazy?—and there was this guy sitting across from her and he was really hinky looking. I mean, his clothes were dark and mismatched and he looked greasy and had a toothpick and a bowler hat and he grabbed Ellie." At this point Tony yelled "what?" before Gibbs quelled him with a look. Abby continued, "And he held her in place so he could talk to her and she looked really unhappy about it, but he didn't let go. And we couldn't hear what they were saying, but Ellie was crying, like a lot, and I read her lips a bit and she said something about being broken and about how she was depressed. Then he left and she was still crying, but she told Tim and me not to tell you about it because friends don't tell on friends, but since we're friends, I had to tell you, because I was worried." Abby finally slowed down and said, "I was really worried, Tony. She was really upset, but she wouldn't tell me or Tim what was wrong. She just told us not to tell you."

"And you have no idea who this guy was?" asked Tony, worried himself now.

"No," said Abby apologetically. "But I made this," she said, holding up a computer-generated sketch of the man who had made Ellie cry.

"You know him?" Gibbs asked Tony.

"No," said Tony. He had to admit that he agreed with Abby's assessment. This man definitely looked hinky.

"Would Ellie not tell us if she were in trouble?" asked Ziva, wanting to give Ellie the benefit of the doubt. When Ellie and Tony had first begun dating, Ziva had not liked the woman. Some would call it jealousy. But, after getting to know Ellie, she began to like the woman almost more than she liked Tony. Ellie was a strong woman and that was something Ziva admired. She was uncomfortable with the idea of her team discussing Ellie's personal business behind the woman's back.

Tony's mind was going too quickly for him even to attempt to answer Ziva. He had spent ten minutes speaking with his wife at around 3 p.m. and she had not mentioned any of this to him. He always prided their marriage on its openness; now he felt like it was in a tailspin. Some sketchy-looking man had made his wife cry and, not only had she not told him about it, but she had made Abby and Tim promise not to tell him either. That was unlike his wife and that worried him.

Gibbs was just watching Tony to get some clue of what was going through his senior field agent's mind. Gibbs knew that he was not an expert in healthy marriages, but he knew that marriages rarely did well in the face of lies and secrets. He thought of Tony as a son and didn't like seeing him upset and certainly didn't like to see cracks in the agent's marriage, even if they were only micro-fissures. If Gibbs had learned anything from working with wood, it was that sometimes one small crack in piece of wood could widen and end up destroying the whole boat.

"I think Ellie was scared of something," replied Abby quietly. "I've been running the sketch through facial recognition software, but that can take a while and we all know that sketches are not one-hundred percent accurate. We probably won't get anything. Maybe we can—"

"I have to go," interrupted Tony, grabbing the rest of his things and sprinting up the stairs to get his wife.

"Hey, what's going on?" asked Tim, returning from the bathroom. After looking around at the rest of the group and following their gaze to Tony, Tim looked at Abby and said disbelievingly, "You didn't?"

"Let's go," said Tony gruffly to Ellie, bursting into her office.

Ellie looked up from what she was doing and smiled at her husband. Usually he couldn't help but return the smile; today he did not. She didn't ask what was wrong. It had been a rough day, what with the threat against the Secretary of the Navy, and Tony was probably tired. "Sure," she said, a bit stiltedly. "Just let me finish this up."

Tony flopped down on the couch, staring at her as she finished typing the document to send to the director. His gaze was making her slightly uncomfortable, but she had dealt with much more unnerving situations. "OK," she said, hitting send, "let's go." She flashed him another dazzling smile and this time he returned it halfheartedly.

It wasn't until they were in the car driving home that Tony finally spoke to Ellie, who was sitting in the passenger seat of the car and fiddling with the radio. Reaching out, he shut off the radio, leaving them alone with their thoughts and the uneasy silence. When he spoke, although his voice was quiet, it carried throughout the car, and it sounded tight, as if he were exerting a lot of energy controlling it. "What happened today?" he asked, faking a calm that he was not feeling.

"What do you mean?" asked Ellie as nonchalantly as possible. Although she was pulling out her dumb blonde routine, her heart had skipped a beat: She knew what he was talking about.

"Abby told me."

"Oh."

The couple was again immersed in silence. Tony kept his eyes on the road and Ellie kept her eyes on her hands in her lap.

After a brief and uncomfortable period of time, Tony asked, "Who was that guy at the sandwich shop today?"

"Just somebody that I used to know," replied Ellie vaguely.

"Who was he?" asked Tony again, his voice rising this time.

"He was nobody," said Ellie as convincingly as she could, turning in her seat to look at her husband. "He's nobody important. You don't have to worry about it."

"I don't have to worry about it, but I do," said Tony, still not looking at Ellie. "Damn it Ellie, you're my wife. I can't help but worry about you. And when someone tells me that a strange man grabbed you at lunch today and made you cry, I worry. I worry even more when you ask our friends to keep it a secret from me. If it was nothing, then why didn't you want me to know about it?"

"Because it was nothing and I didn't want you to worry," pleaded Ellie.

"According to Abby, it didn't look like nothing. I want to know who this guy is."

"No," said Ellie quietly, so quietly that Tony wasn't sure what he had heard.

After a pause, Tony prompted her again, saying, "Who is he?"

"No," said Ellie, more loudly this time. "It is none of your business."

"How can you say that?" questioned Tony. "You're my wife; that makes you and your life my business." After taking a deep breath, he continued, "I don't want to force you to do or say anything you don't want to—you know I'm not like that—but I wish you felt you could trust me."

"I do trust you."

"Then tell me who this guy is."

"No," Ellie said again, more forcefully than before. "He belongs to a part of my life that is over now. I don't want to go there and, trust me, you don't either."

"Yes, I do."

"I'm fine, Tony. Just drop it."

"I'm sorry, Ellie, but I can't," said Tony apologetically. "I love you and I need to protect you."

Ellie snorted in disbelief, which only irritated Tony more. She couldn't help it; she had heard that line before: from Giles, from Spike, from Riley, from Xander, and so on. She had especially heard it from Angel. That had always been Angel's thing. He loved her, so he had to leave town. He loved her, so he had to stalk her. He loved her, so he had to dissect her life. She was tired of it and she would certainly not allow that sort of behavior from Tony. "I don't need your protection," she snapped.

"I'm tired of the secrets," yelled Tony, pulling into their apartment building's parking lot and finally turning to look at her. There was anger in his eyes. "I have accepted a lot of lies and half-truths, Ellie, because I love you, but enough is enough. I get that you don't like to talk about your past, but this is different. This isn't some inconsequential memory from your past; this is a flesh-and-blood man who made you cry in the middle of a café today."

Ferociously blinking back the tears from her eyes, Ellie looked at Tony and said, in a quavering voice, "I gave you my heart. Isn't that enough?"

Tony clenched his jaw and looked out the window before finally responding. "No, not anymore."

"Fine," said Ellie, on the verge of tears. She quickly climbed out of the car and began to walk away from their building.

"Where are you going?" shouted Tony after her.

"For a walk," she shouted back. "Just leave me alone."

"Fine," echoed Tony angrily, walking into the building.

Ellie continued down the street, keeping a fairly fast pace. She did not notice the car peel out of the parking space in front of her building, following her silently through the streets.

x TBC x

_If you liked it and want more, please leave a review._


	3. In the Shadows

**Changes and Choices**

_Disclaimer: I do not own "Buffy: the Vampire Slayer," "Angel," or "NCIS."_

_AN: Thank you to everyone who reviewed the first two chapters. I love getting reviews. Those fantastic people are: _mardar _(twice!)_, Luciana Grimmaldi-Reid, Blood Roses18, bemeka, slaterbug, Poopie, and two guests!

**Chapter 3**

**In the Shadows**

Gibbs had not always liked Ellie. At first she had just seemed like a new and irritating barrier standing between him and the director, not an impassable barrier, but a barrier nonetheless. The first few times he had stormed into Jenny's office, Ellie had done nothing but squawk at him in disbelief. It was the fourth time, however, that Gibbs had been forced to feel a grudging respect for her. In the blink of an eye, she had been standing between Gibbs and the door to Jenny's office, telling him he would not enter. Gibbs very clearly remembered that: She had not told him that he could not enter or should not enter; she had told him he would not enter. And she had been right. After noting the danger her eyes held, he had turned around and walked back out into the corridor. Gibbs truly liked the woman. That was why he felt so guilty about following her now.

Ellie had been wandering around for more than thirty minutes now. After her fight with Dinozzo, she had taken off, seemingly not caring where she went. She was just so angry—why did every guy think she needed protection? It was demeaning. "I hate men," she muttered aloud to no one in particular.

"It's lucky for me then that I'm not strictly a 'man,'" said a voice behind her. Ellie would know that voice anywhere. Angel.

Spinning around swiftly, she asked, "What are you doing here?" She had meant to snap the question in annoyance, but, just as she saw him, all the breath fled her lungs and it came out as a sigh.

"You know me," he said grinning at her, "I like to show up and give you cryptic messages about some big evil."

Ellie chuckled. "Just like old times."

"Yeah." Angel grinned wryly, shifting his feet a tad nervously.

"So what's the what?" asked Ellie, leaning against a brick building.

"Really?" questioned Angel, leaning against the building too. Had she not been so much shorter than him, they would have been shoulder to shoulder. "I thought it would be a lot harder to get you to listen to me. You know, something about having a normal life now …"

"I do have a normal life now," said Ellie, frustrated by Angel's reappearance. "I have a normal job, a normal home …" She nearly said "a normal husband," but for some reason she held that back. It was not as if she wanted anything to happen between her and Angel, but, she wouldn't lie, just having the possibility was nice. Angel just smiled at her again. It was dark and they were both in the shadows, as usual, but she could make out every detail of his face thanks to her Slayer vision, and she was sure he could see every aspect of her face as well. She quickly schooled her features and crossed her arms over her chest, adopting a nonchalant pose. "How's your life going?"

"Fine," he answered noncommittally, "same as usual."

"Where's Illyria? She around here somewhere?"

"No, she's off … discovering the world … or something …"

"Is that safe?" asked Ellie skeptically.

"For her or the world?" asked Angel playfully.

"Both?"

"Eh," replied Angel, shrugging his shoulders in a way that was very familiar to Ellie. They both then settled into a comfortable and companionable silence. Ellie was trying to think over her crazy-ass day but she was finding it difficult to concentrate being this close to Angel again. He still had the ability to fill her mind completely. Angel was just basking—to use her word—in being this close to Buffy again.

Finally Ellie had had enough. "So, what's going on?"

"I don't have all the information yet," responded Angel, "but, best I can tell, it's the end of the world."

"Again?" whined Ellie.

"Yeah," chuckled Angel, "again. Look, as far as I know, there are some demons doing some sort of ritual to suck the world into Hell."

"That sounds familiar," interjected Ellie.

Angel just ignored her. "It is a demon clan called the Sargniss. I ran into a few a couple of nights ago and I can tell you that they are big, strong, and vaguely reptilian. And they make this horrible caterwauling noise that kind of reminds me of hyenas or clowns … you know, creepy things. According to the book—yes, I do research—they are also venomous. Not really something we want to be fighting."

"How does this ritual work?" asked Ellie, curious despite her promise to herself that she would not get involved.

"They need seven victims, one each night," replied Angel. "They kill the girl in a special pentagram with a special ceremonial sword and, boom, voila, end of the world."

"And they killed their first last night?" asked Ellie, thinking of the girl in her Slayer dream.

"No, last night was number three."

"Why are you telling me all of this?" asked Ellie suddenly, exasperatedly.

"Because we need to work together to stop it, Buffy," answered Angel, gazing into her eyes as he said it. He was searching for something, something that would hint to him that the Buffy he had once known was still in there, despite the new name and the fancy new clothes. He needed to know that the woman with whom he had fallen madly in love was still in there somewhere. Buffy would not stand idly by while innocents were murdered. That was one of the things that Angel loved about her. He would never forget how distraught she had been when she had found out about the prophecy that foretold her death at the hands of the Master. She had been overwhelmed by grief and fear. He remembered her crying, "I'm sixteen years old; I don't want to die." But still, she had known her duty and had gone to the Master anyway. She had been unable to abide anyone dying for her and had quickly changed her mind. She had given her life to save those around her. And, although he hadn't been there, he knew that she had done it years later to save Dawn. She was the most selfless person he knew, even if she didn't want to be.

"I'm done," she said to him so quietly that he would not have been able to hear her if he weren't a vampire. It wounded his heart to hear her sounding so broken.

"Buffy, I need you," he said, hating himself as he said it. He loved her and did not want to be the person to drag her out of the sunlight and back into the shadows.

"Why?" she asked. "Why do you need me?"

After gulping audibly, Angel said, "There's a prophecy."

"Oh great!" cried Ellie. "Another prophecy! Well, why didn't you say so earlier? You know how much I love prophecies!"

"I'm sorry, Buffy."

"Don't. Don't apologize to me," she snapped at him. "What the hell does this prophecy say anyway?"

"Well, there's a lot of number stuff that tells us that this is all happening now, and there's some random stuff about goat-herding—whoever wrote this prophecy down probably had ADD or something—and then it goes on to say—"

"What does it say about us?" interrupted Ellie.

"Well, my Aramaic is a little rusty, but it basically says that we have to defeat the Sargniss."

"What does it say?" repeated Ellie, leaving no wiggle room.

Sighing, Angel answered her question: "It says that 'the ensouled vampire striving for redemption will join the thrice-dead Slayer to defeat the Clan of Blood'—the Sargniss—'and only through their true love can they be victorious.'"

"What the hell does that mean?" asked Ellie, finding herself entirely flustered. She knew better these days than to deny that Angel was her true love, but she couldn't very well admit it out loud. She was a married woman! And she was very happy with Tony. She loved Tony. He was so different from Angel, but he was different in a good way. As much as she loved Angel, she had learned over the years that it was possible to love more than one man, and she certainly loved Tony.

"I don't know what it means," whined Angel. "These things are always really vague. It could mean anything." Catching her eyes again with his, Angel continued, "All I know for certain is that we can only win if we fight this thing together. Either we work together or the world gets sucked into Hell."

"I don't believe that," said Ellie. "I can't believe that. I can't keep doing this, Angel, especially not with you."

"You're not cookies yet, huh?" he asked, grinning wryly.

Avoiding the question, Ellie repeated, "I can't do this."

Angel nearly told her that she had to before he remembered how much Buffy hated being given orders. She had quit the Council, twice, because she didn't like doing things just because she was told to. She didn't toe the imaginary line that other people set, ever. She made her own line. "You can, Buffy," he soothed. "You just need to believe in yourself again."

"I need to go," she demurred, turning away.

Angel quickly grabbed her arm and pulled her back to him. "Buffy, we can do this. You just need to remember who you are. Who we were." With that, Angel pulled Buffy into a kiss. It was a deep kiss that spoke to the yearning Angel had felt all these years for his Buffy, his soul-mate. Ellie meant to pull away, and even began to, but then she felt something awaken in her that she had not felt in years. As much as she loved Tony, kisses with him were never like this; they were never on this cosmic level. Suddenly, Ellie just felt calmed and complete and cookies. The kiss deepened and Ellie found a million things running through her mind.

And then it all stopped and the only thing Ellie could see in her mind was Tony's face. He looked hurt, sad at her betrayal. She hated that look. She broke away from Angel and, before he could grab her again, she ran. She ran until she couldn't run anymore. She didn't know anymore if she was running from Angel, from her past, or from herself.

Meanwhile, Angel just looked wistfully after her. He knew she needed time and he wanted to give it to her, but they were on a deadline. Unless he found the Sargniss soon, a fourth woman would die tonight. With a swish of his cloak, Angel melted into the shadows and was gone.

Gibbs sat in his car, stunned. Ellie and her "friend" had been too far away for Gibbs to hear what they had been saying and it had been too dark for him to read their lips, but he had certainly seen that kiss. He ran his hand over his face, suddenly feeling very tired. He had no idea what he was going to tell Tony. His senior field agent would be crushed.

~ x ~ x ~ x ~

Lt. Claudia Grand ran as fast as she could. There were hideous monsters following her. They somewhat reminded her of Killer Croc from the Batman cartoons she had watched as a little kid. Killer Croc had always scared her, all those rows of glistening teeth. These creatures were scarier. They were more real, too. Her side began to cramp and she could barely breathe. She may be in the Navy, but she was not in the best shape. She was a pencil-pusher, not a Marine!

A large, scaly arm wrapped itself around her neck. She could barely breathe before, but now her trachea was being crushed. Unconsciousness stole over her quickly. The demon carried her to the center of a pentagram and placed her gently in the center, stopping to brush a stray strand of hair from her face.

Lt. Claudia Grand didn't wake up as the blade slid into her. She never woke up again.

x TBC x

_A/N: I say "thrice-dead Slayer" above because I count her short death after Warren shot her as a third death. I know this one is debatable, but I really like the word thrice and wanted to use it. Also, "she had quit the Council twice," because I am counting the end of the third season and my imaginary Buffy cutting off ties with the Scoobies after season seven._

_Please leave a review; they make me happy._


	4. A Strange Case

**Changes and Choices**

_Disclaimer: I do not own "Buffy: the Vampire Slayer," "Angel," or "NCIS."_

_AN: Thank you to everyone who reviewed Chapter 3! Thank you _bloodroses 18, Poopie, Amitris, slaterbug, hungrypiranha, jcanderson33, Wild320, DLillith21 _and_ sambam17.

**Chapter 4**

**A Strange Case**

"What do we have?" asked Gibbs gruffly at the crime scene, avoiding eye contact with Tony.

"Lt. Claudia Grand, U.S. Navy," responded Tim. "She works over at the Pentagon."

"What kind of work?" asked Gibbs suspiciously, looking down at the lieutenant's body. The woman had probably been attractive in life; she was slim, with brown hair and big brown eyes. She had a kind face. It was a shame that she had been left in this empty parking lot next to the dumpsters, like she was trash.

"Nothing major," answered Tim. "She was basically a secretary."

"They like to be called 'administrative assistants,' Probie," bit off Tony, though admittedly with less verve than usual. His heart just wasn't in it. He and Ellie hadn't been speaking this morning and it had set his entire day off on the wrong foot. He felt completely out of sorts.

"How'd she die, Duck?" Gibbs asked the medical examiner, who was crouched next to the victim's body while Jimmy fetched the stretcher from the van.

"This poor lady was both strangled and stabbed," replied Ducky. "The bruises around her neck and the petechial hemorrhages in her eyes indicate strangulation. She would have fallen unconscious due to her lack of oxygen. Hopefully, she was already unconscious when she was stabbed, which is what I believe killed her, although I won't know for certain until I get her back to NCIS and open her up."

"Stabbed?" questioned Gibbs. "Where's the blood?"

"Probably wherever she was stabbed, Jethro," said Ducky. "The lividity shows that the lieutenant was moved approximately an hour after she died; she would have bled out long before that, judging from the wound in her abdomen."

"Do we know what kind of knife did this?" asked Ziva, jumping in.

"I can't tell you that until we get back to NCIS, but I would tentatively say a rather large blade made these wounds," said Ducky. Then looking around exasperatedly, he shouted, "Mr. Palmer, what is keeping you? Has the wheel gotten stuck again?"

"No, Doctor, sorry, Doctor," apologized Jimmy, finally approaching. Jimmy had been hoping Gibbs would walk away before he came over. It wasn't that he was scared of Gibbs; it was that he was terrified of Gibbs.

Gibbs and the team then continued to look around the crime scene but found very little, again indicating that the body had been dumped there from somewhere else.

"Um, Boss," called Tim, waving Gibbs over to where he was crouched on the asphalt.

"What do you got?" asked Gibbs.

"I'm not sure," replied Tim. Gibbs just quirked an eyebrow at him. "I mean, it's some kind of chemical or something …"

Gibbs looked more closely and saw the faintest traces of some yellow goop that looked pretty noxious. "Any ideas what it is?"

"No … but I'll bag it for Abby."

"Good," said Gibbs, nodding. Then the team, having collected all the evidence at the location, packed up and left.

~ x ~ x ~ x ~

It had been hours since the team had been at the crime scene and now Gibbs and Tim were sorting through evidence in the bullpen while Tony and Ziva were in the field interviewing Lt. Grand's friends and family, trying—in vain—to find anyone who disliked the woman. They had found bupkus so far. Everyone liked her: her coworkers, her family, her neighbors. They had found one disgruntled ex-boyfriend, but he was currently overseas in Iraq; there was no way he had killed her. Gibbs was getting frustrated. He hated cases like this, cases where they just ran into dead end after dead end. Even the goop Tim had found had gotten them nowhere; Abby had tried to analyze the sample, but had come back even more confused than before. It was organic, but unlike anything she had seen before. The best she could guess was that it came from a cryptid. Needless to say, Gibbs was very unhappy about that, although Abby was rather excited.

Ellie wandered into the bullpen nervously. She knew she had to speak with her husband, but she was dreading it. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw only Tim and Gibbs sitting at their desks. "Hey," she said, feigning nonchalance. "Where're Ziva and Tony?"

Gibbs just glared at her. As much as he liked her, he couldn't stand the sight of her right now. She was about to break his senior field agent's heart.

Luckily for Ellie, she didn't notice Gibbs' anger as Tim simply looked up from his computer and told her, "They're out working on the case, interviewing people and stuff."

"Oh, great," said Ellie, forcing a half-assed smile. "What's the case?" she asked, more out of habit than curiosity.

Tim jumped right into the case, telling her about its weirdness. Gibbs, unable to remain with this adulterer, left the bullpen to go visit Abby.

"So, all the blood was drained?" asked Ellie faintly.

"Yeah," replied Tim, "which is why we think the body was moved post-mortem. We're trying to find—"

"What about the goop?" interrupted Ellie.

"The goop?" asked Tim faintly. "Oh yeah, the organic substance we found at the crime scene. Abby can't figure out what it is."

"Can I see it?"

"Well, it's in the lab," said Tim, knitting his brows together. Why did Ellie want to see Abby's anomaly?

"Can I see a picture of it?" asked Ellie, putting on her most innocent face and widening her eyes to the point that Tim couldn't say no.

"Sure," said Tim, pulling up the crime scene photo of the chemical on the big screen for Ellie. He couldn't understand why she was so interested in it. But, nevertheless, she was looking closely at it, as if she could unlock all its secrets through the screen.

"Thanks," she said abruptly, before leaving.

"Wait," called Tim, standing up. "I just … I wanted to apologize if Abby and I caused any problems between you and Tony. She just felt that he needed to know. She was worried about you. I was too."

"I know," said Ellie, her face softening. "But that doesn't mean you're entirely off the hook. I don't need you or Abby or even Tony to protect me." _I hate when people do that_, she thought.

"I'm sorry," said Tim, and Ellie was moved by his sincerity.

After briefly smiling at him, Ellie walked off to make a phone call.

_"Hello."_

"Hi, Angel," Ellie said into her phone, smiling that secret smile that she had only for Angel.

_"Buffy,"_ Angel said, surprised to hear from her so soon. _"What's up? Have you changed your mind?"_

"No," replied Ellie stubbornly. "I was just wondering something about the Sardines."

_"The Sardines?"_ asked Angel, confused at the odd turn their conversation was taking.

"Yeah, you know, the demons," clarified Ellie.

_"Oh, the Sargniss,"_ Angel corrected.

"That's what I said," huffed Ellie.

_"What is it?"_ asked Angel, chuckling softly, having missed even Buffy's off pronunciations.

"Um, do they sometimes leave behind gross yellow, globby stuff?"

_"It's called plakticine,"_ explained Angel. _"Some demons—like the Sargniss—secrete it."_

"Is it toxic?" asked Ellie, worried for Abby, who she knew was working with the substance.

_"Not really, but I still wouldn't suggest eating it or anything."_

"Wasn't planning to," retorted Ellie.

_"Good,"_ said Angel. Ellie could hear the smile in his voice and it made her heart beat just a little bit faster. _"Why do you ask, anyway? Have you come across some plakticine recently?"_

"No, I mean yes, I mean no," flip-flopped Ellie. "The agents here at NCIS—you know, where I work—are investigating this woman's murder and they found this plankton at the scene and can't figure out what it is. I thought it looked demon-y, so I called you. Also, the woman was stabbed and all her blood was drained. Looks like the Sardinians got victim number four."

Angel didn't even bother to correct her this time. _"What about the pentagram?"_

"Nuh-uh," said Ellie, shaking her head even though Angel couldn't see her, "they think her body was moved. There was no blood at the scene."

_"OK, just one more question,"_ said Angel. _"What's NCIS?"_

As Ellie finished her phone conversation, Gibbs watched her. He was too far away to hear what she was saying and she was turned in profile, so he couldn't read her lips. But that didn't mean that he couldn't study her posture. She looked relaxed and, although he couldn't see her entire face, he could swear she was smiling. _She's probably on the phone with her boyfriend_, thought Gibbs angrily. After finishing her call, Gibbs watched Ellie shake her head, smiling, and head back to her office. Gibbs needed to do something about this; he couldn't let this keep going on.

Heading back to the bullpen, Gibbs saw that Dinozzo and David were back. Before he could lose his nerve, he strode up to Tony and barked, "Dinozzo, follow me."

"Uh, yeah Boss," said Tony uncertainly. He had no clue what he had done wrong now, but he was just glad that Gibbs wasn't going to chew him out in front of everyone else. Maybe the boss had noticed how anxious Tony was about Ellie and was going easy on him for it. Why ever Gibbs was leading him to the elevator though, Tony just followed.

After entering the elevator, Gibbs pushed the emergency stop and the elevator halted as the washed-out emergency lights came on. "One of these days," joked Tony, "they're going to just disable the emergency stop button and we're going to need it and not have it."

"We'll survive," said Gibbs, avoiding eye contact with his agent. This time Tony noticed and he sobered immediately.

"What's wrong, Boss?"

Gibbs ran his hand over his face, trying to find the words to begin with. "It's Ellie," he started. But, before he could get further, Tony jumped in.

"I know," he said. "We had that huge fight last night and we haven't spoken since. I'm trying not to let it affect my work, but it's hard."

"Fight about what?" asked Gibbs.

"About what Abby told me, about that guy at the café," said Tony, suddenly feeling overwhelmed again. "I tried to talk to her about it, but she just got mad at me and told me to drop it. I know she's keeping secrets from me, but I don't even have a clue as to what they could be."

"I do," said Gibbs softly.

Tony's head snapped up. "What do you mean?"

"I caught the tail-end of your fight last night," said Gibbs. "I saw Ellie storm off and I followed her." Off of Tony's look, Gibbs expounded, "I like your wife and didn't want anything bad to happen to her. Anyway, I followed her and saw her with this guy."

"A guy?" asked Tony, just looking confused. "The guy from the café?"

"No, a different guy," said Gibbs. "Tall, dark hair, thin, white—definitely not the guy from the café."

"Was he making Ellie cry too?" asked Tony concernedly.

"Not exactly," said Gibbs, knowing he had to choose his next words very carefully. "She seemed very comfortable with him."

"What does that mean?" demanded Tony. "Just tell me."

"I saw her kissing him, Tony. I think she's cheating on you."

"She can't be," asserted Tony. He knew Ellie was keeping secrets from him, but she would never cheat on him. She wasn't that kind of woman.

"Tony," said Gibbs, "I think you should take some time off, talk to your wife, go home."

"No, Boss. I want to keep working this case. If I talk to Ellie now about this, I might say something I'll regret later. I know I can be kind of a hothead, but with this I really need to be calm and level-headed. I want to keep working."

"OK," acquiesced Gibbs. If Tony needed to work to deal with his emotions right now, Gibbs wouldn't stop him. Gibbs would make certain Tony spoke with Ellie at some point in the next few days though, come hell or high water.

As Gibbs and Tony entered the bullpen, to curious glances from Ziva and Tim, Gibbs received a phone call from Abby. _"Gibbs,"_ she chirruped into his ear, _"I've got something, and I can't believe I had to call and tell you. You're slipping."_

"Be right there, Abs," said Gibbs, before hanging up his phone and heading toward the elevator … again.

"What did you and Gibbs speak about?" Ziva asked Tony, always straight to the point.

From where he sat at his desk, with his head in his hands, Tony groaned and said, "I don't want to talk about it, Ziva."

"If it has something to do with this case, then we should be informed," said Ziva. She felt very left out and she hated feeling left out.

"It's personal," said Tony, lifting his head and enunciating each syllable separately.

"Fine," said Ziva, a bit miffed. Then, softening, "If you need to speak with anyone …"

"Thanks," said Tony brusquely, really not wanting to get into it. While he knew that Ziva would never joke or tease him about something as serious as his wife possibly having an affair, he just couldn't bear the humiliation. When he had first said he was going to marry Ellie, Ziva had been against it. She had believed that Ellie was too young and that Tony was moving too quickly. She had told Tony that there was too much he didn't know about her. But Tony had known that he loved her and he felt that that was enough.

"Gear up," called Gibbs, coming back into the bullpen.

"Where are we going, Boss?" asked Tim.

"Abby found particulates on Lt. Grand's body that point to a certain old warehouse as the murder scene," answered Gibbs.

~ x ~ x ~ x ~

The team found the warehouse with no problems. The problems came though when they found the pentagram painted onto the floor in the center of the warehouse.

"What are we thinking, Boss? Satan worshippers?" asked Tony.

"And look," called Tim, "there's dried blood all over this thing. A lot of blood, more than just from Lt. Grand."

"So, we're looking at multiple murders," deduced Ziva.

"Looks like," answered Gibbs. "Tim, I want you to—"

Gibbs was hit on the back of the head with no warning. Although he went down, he was not knocked out. He pulled his weapon, but suddenly felt weak and shaky as he saw the _thing_ that had attacked him. It was huge claws and teeth, and green, scaly skin. It was like iguanas on serious steroids had been mating with bears. Gibbs shook his head, trying to banish the Abby-like thoughts from his mind. These creatures were like nothing he had ever seen before. Tony and Tim were in a similar state of shock. Ziva was the only one with the presence of mind to fight back, but she was quickly overwhelmed by three of the monsters. The others were subdued by a few more. There seemed to be about twenty all together and all Gibbs could think was that he had been hit on the head harder than he had thought.

In seemingly no time at all, the Sargniss had taken away the NCIS agents' guns and trussed them up, hands and feet tied. The Sargniss had even found Tony's hidden belt-knife.

Gibbs couldn't understand what the things were saying, but he knew that it didn't sound good. Human criminals he could deal with. This made him feel panicked. He could feel the end coming and he was just sorry that his team was going to meet it as well.

x TBC x

_Please review!_


	5. Captivity

**Changes and Choices**

_Disclaimer: I do not own "Buffy: the Vampire Slayer," "Angel," or "NCIS."_

_AN: Thank you to my wonderful reviewers! These fabulous people are _DLillith21, Amitris, sambam17, Poopie, aveave, _and a guest_. _Props to_ Amitris _for their review, as it made me laugh and then flex my fingers a la Mr. Burns._

**Chapter 5**

**Captivity**

"We're going to die," announced Tim glumly.

Privately Gibbs agreed, but he wasn't going to say it. "We'll be fine."

"We have been here for hours," said Ziva. "I believe that if we were going to find a way out of this mess, we would have already." She sounded dejected; Gibbs had never heard her sound like that before. He didn't like it. If he hadn't been tied up, he would have head-slapped her.

"We'll be fine," he repeated. "Tony, how are you doing?" he asked the unusually quiet agent.

"Fine," Tony replied.

"What is wrong with you?" snapped Ziva. "You have been acting weirdly all day and now you are _not_ driving us all crazy with pointless movie references. What is going on?"

"Nothing," muttered Tony.

"Is it Ellie?" asked Tim, being surprisingly perceptive.

Gibbs decided to put a stop to this. "Leave him a—"

"She's cheating on me," interrupted Tony, still in monotone.

"No she's not," said Tim, thinking Tony must be joking. Ellie wouldn't do that.

"She is," supplied Gibbs so Tony wouldn't have to. "I saw her kissing another man."

"Wow," said Ziva, and then, becoming angry, "that _kalba_."

"Ow."

The team members all looked up expectantly, only to see the crazy crocodile monsters dragging Abby, Jimmy, and Ducky into the room. The three of them were tied up just like the team. It had been Abby who said "ow" as one of the demons had inadvertently banged her into a wall.

"What are you guys doing here?" asked Gibbs testily. How dare they follow the team to the warehouse when they had absolutely no field training!

"They got us at NCIS, just as we were leaving" replied Jimmy forlornly. "I guess we knew too much."

"But we don't know anything, Mr. Palmer," replied Ducky, whose aged body was already aching from sitting on the hard floor. Also, although the gash on his forehead had already stopped bleeding, it couldn't have stopped hurting yet.

"Well, clearly they thought that was too much," said Jimmy, immediately regretting his caustic tone of voice. In his attempt to cover up his fear, he was just acting bitchy. Attempting to rectify things, Jimmy explained, "What I meant was: We know they are killing people in this warehouse. Since we knew where they were, we could stop them. So, they stopped us."

"Makes sense," said Tim, agreeing with the assistant medical examiner.

Now the seven of them sat tied up, on the floor, trying to figure out a way out of their predicament and failing miserably. The bonds were tied too tightly. All their weapons had been taken away. They had no way to call for help. They were doomed and they knew it. They settled into an uncomfortable silence as they wallowed in their misery.

After nearly two hours of silence and furious thinking, Abby suddenly shouted. "Did you see those things? What do you think they are? They clearly aren't human! They must be those cryptids that the weird organic compound from the crime scene came from. Do you think they're aliens? How cool is that? Like, from another solar system or something. Or … or they are time travelers and that is what we're all going to look like in the future. Maybe we've mixed our DNA with geckos or something. Isn't that neat? But, oh, maybe it's magic. I mean, they have a pentagram on the floor, so that means dark magic. Maybe they're like some weird demonic cult or something and like to murder women to worship Satan or something. Right? Right, guys?" Abby finally stopped speaking and took a breath. Not even focusing on breathing after that rant could wipe the gigantic smile from her face.

"You know we're going to die, right Abby?" said Tim a tad tetchily.

"Maybe not," she said, trying to shrug and failing due to being tied up.

"What does that mean?" demanded Jimmy. "Do you have a plan?"

"No … Gibbs?"

"What is it, Abs?" Gibbs asked.

"What's the plan?"

"Um, Abby … we don't have a plan," said Tim.

"But … but what are we going to do?" asked Abby. Everyone could hear her voice catch. She had honestly believed that Gibbs had a plan. Then, as if forcing herself to believe her eccentricities, she announced: "Superman will save us."

"Superman?" questioned Tim.

"Well, if alien-demon-time-travelers are real, then why not Superman?" demanded Abby. No one had an adequate answer for her and just resigned themselves to quietly listening to her.

~ x ~ x ~ x ~

_Where was he?_ worried Ellie. It wasn't like Tony to be so late without calling. It was nearly midnight and he still wasn't home. Earlier in the evening she had assumed that he was just still too angry with her, but not now.

At 6 p.m., Ellie had gone home by herself, after Abby had confirmed for her that the team was out. She had then attempted to cook dinner for her husband as an apology. As usual, that had not gone so well. She had burnt the sauce and the pasta had come out all glumpy. So, instead, she had ordered some Chinese food and then sat waiting for Tony to come home.

He hadn't. And he hadn't called either.

Now she was worried.

She had tried to go to sleep, but had been unable to. Usually, even if Tony weren't next to her in bed, she knew where he was. She found it impossible to sleep without that knowledge though. So, at about 10:30 p.m., she had tried to call him. It had gone directly to voicemail, which was weird because his phone was never turned off. It was one of Gibbs' rules. She tried to call him again a half-hour later but his phone was still off. So she tried to call Ziva, but Ziva's mobile was off as well. Where was everybody? She then tried everyone from the team, but all their phones were switched off too. As a last resort she tried to call Gibbs. She usually would not hesitate to call Gibbs. He was usually on her side when she fought with Tony, always willing to smack her husband for her. But not today. Today he had been glaring at her with a ferocity that he usually saved for perps. Nevertheless she called him. No answer.

Now she was beginning to freak out. Gibbs was never—NEVER—out of contact.

Without even thinking too hard about it, Ellie got dressed, left the apartment, and went back to NCIS. It was nearly midnight, but she needed to know where Tony was.

But when she got there, none of them were there. And to make matters even worse, there were signs of a struggle in the parking garage. There was a small amount of blood—human blood—in Ducky's parking spot and some more of that yellowish demon gloop.

Ellie tried Tony once more and once more there was no answer. Ellie sighed. She only had one choice now.

She had one more call to make and it was one that she really didn't want to make.

_"Hello,"_ he answered on the third ring. _Probably after much fumbling_, thought Ellie, smiling.

"Hey, Angel," she said into the phone. "I need your help … I think."

_"What's wrong, Buffy? Are you all right?"_

"My …" Again Ellie halted at the word husband. "My friends from NCIS, I think they may be in trouble."

_"Why?"_

"They aren't answering their phones. Also, there are some signs that those demons may have attacked them."

_"Why would the Sargniss attack them?"_ asked Angel.

"I don't know," said Ellie, throwing her free hand into the air. "Maybe they knew too much."

_"All right, just calm down and take a few deep breaths, Buffy. Are you sure they were attacked? Maybe they just turned off their phones for some reason,"_ suggested Angel. Ellie couldn't help but smile. She and Angel had always had that effect on each other. If she was jumping to conclusions or talking a mile a minute, Angel could easily get her to take a deep breath. He could obviously tell that she was upset.

After calming herself, Ellie replied, her voice much lower, "They always answer their phones. Always. Also, there was blood and lactic acid in the parking garage."

_"Lactic acid?"_ queried Angel. _"Do you mean plakticine?"_

"That's what I said," argued Ellie.

_"Well, don't worry,"_ said Angel, which, oddly enough, did not keep Ellie from worrying. _"We'll find them. Give me the address of NCIS and I'll meet you there."_

~ x ~ x ~ x ~

"Wait, shh," Ziva stage-whispered. "I hear something." Everyone silenced themselves and they could hear that strange, hissing language that the monsters spoke. And the sound was getting closer. All each member of the team could hear was that strange snake-like speech and the frantic pounding of their own hearts. As cool and calm as Gibbs and Ziva were in the face of danger, this was like no danger they had ever faced before and they were incredibly out of the element.

Everyone was shaken even more when they heard a blood-curdling scream. The scream bespoke fear, anguish, horror, despair, and all the other emotions one feels before one is ritualistically murdered.

Gibbs began struggling against his bonds even harder. It was of no use, though. He had been trying to loosen his bonds since he had been tied up and all he had succeeded in doing was cutting his wrist. He could feel the blood running down his hands and pooling on the floor.

Then the Sargniss entered, dragging a terrified woman with them. She had curly, brown hair and was of medium height. She was slightly overweight, but, had she not been chalk-white with tears streaming down her face, she would have been quite striking. The team couldn't tell what color her eyes were because of the steady flood of tears. She was sobbing so hard that she was wheezing. She kept trying to beg for her life, but every time she tried to speak, all that came out were sobs and coughs.

"Leave her alone!" shouted Gibbs, but the Sargniss ignored him.

The woman looked to Gibbs and silently pleaded with him to save her. But Gibbs could do nothing but watch.

Two of the Sargniss pulled the woman to the center of the pentagram while the NCIS team watched in horror and regret. The demons held her still and upright, though her legs were threatening to fail her. The rest of the demons gathered around the pentagram and began to chant.

One of the Sargniss broke free from the circle and approached the hysterical woman with a large sword. "Leave her alone!" shouted Gibbs again. But—again—the Sargniss ignored him.

"NOOOOOO!" screeched the woman as the sword was buried into her side. And then she fell silent and her sobbing stopped as shock set in. Her eyes became unfocused and the Sargniss supporting her finally let go. She crumpled to the ground and watched her blood flow out and across the pentagram. And still the Sargniss spoke in their sibilant hissing.

The hissing seemed to go on forever while the woman in the center of the pentagram slowly died. By the end of it, Abby was sobbing, Jimmy had fainted, and Tim's face was drawn and pale. Gibbs, Ziva, and Tony just looked furious. And Ducky, who was often immersed in his memories, was entirely in the present, focused on the dead woman in front of them.

Once the woman was dead and all her blood had pooled underneath her, streaking across the pentagram, one of the Sargniss stepped forward and lifted the woman, completely ignoring Gibbs and his team. They carried the body out, again leaving the NCIS crew alone.

"Well, now we know how Lt. Grand died," said Tim with a strained voice.

"Yeah," agreed Tony, sounding equally wretched.

"I am going to get all of us out of this," Gibbs told the rest of them, sounding much more assured than he felt. He had no idea how he was going to save his team, but he knew that he had to. He again began to struggle against his bonds, setting his blood flowing again. Abby just continued to sob.

Again Ziva heard something before the rest of them, quickly quieting Abby. "I hear someone coming."

They all looked at the door, expecting to see the demons return. They were shocked to see Ellie standing framed in the door.

"Ellie," said Tony in a low voice, "what are you doing here?"

"Shh," she stressed, coming closer.

But Tony didn't listen, his concern for his wife overpowering his common sense.

"Ellie, you shouldn't have come here," he said as she got closer. "You should have called for help."

"It'll be OK," she promised. Instead of coming directly to them, she suddenly veered right to look behind some crates. Gibbs had to admit to himself that she was doing a superb recon job. No shadow was left uninspected.

"How did you know where we were?" asked Gibbs.

"It was on Abby's computer," she said while looking behind some more crates. Then, approaching the pentagram, she bent down and inspected the blood. Looking up with concern written all over face, she inquired, "None of this is any of yours, is it?"

"No," answered Gibbs.

"What are you doing here, Ellie?" asked Tony again.

Looking straight into her husband's eyes, she said, "I'm here to rescue you."

And then she spun around, having heard something that no one else had heard. Out of seemingly nowhere, three Sargniss rushed Ellie from the door.

"Ellie!" screamed Tony, as one of the Sargniss swung his giant hand with its razor-like claws at Ellie's face.

x TBC x

_Please make me happy and leave a review._


	6. Discoveries

**Changes and Choices**

_Disclaimer: I do not own "Buffy: the Vampire Slayer," "Angel," or "NCIS."_

_AN: Thanks to my amazing reviewers: _AlphaWolf45, DLillith21, aveave, jcanderson33, sambam17, Wild320, Poopie, mardar, MaeganM.0816, Luciana Grimmaldi-Reid, SHuntress, hungrypiranha, _and_ fieryhairedmaiden92.

_A/N2: I will switch between calling our heroine "Buffy" and "Ellie," depending on whose indirect thoughts are mentioning her. Everyone, including the girl in question herself, refers to her as "Ellie." Everyone except for Angel: For him she will always be "Buffy."_

**Chapter 6**

**Discoveries**

"Ellie!" screamed Tony, as one of the Sargniss swung its giant hand with its razor-sharp claws at Ellie's face. At the same moment, Angel appeared in the doorway and yelled, "Buffy," causing Ellie's true name to blend with her chosen name.

But Ellie didn't need Angel or Tony to warn her. She already saw the Sargniss attacking her and she dropped into a low crouch, causing the demon to miss her by mere inches. Unfortunately, Ellie had not fought demons in a long time and, although she had stayed in good shape, she found herself slightly out of sorts. Even more unfortunately, Angel, seeing that Ellie was going to become overpowered by these demons, wanted to rush to her side, but was caught in a fight of his own as two more Sargniss came into the room.

The room soon became full of the sounds of fighting, Ellie taking on three demons and Angel two. Angel vamped quickly and he flew into the fray, eliciting gasps from the NCIS team. Angel was holding his own fairly well, but Ellie was overwhelmed. It seemed that no matter how forcefully she hit, they hit back even harder. There seemed to be no end to the claws and fangs. She knew that she must, after only minutes of fighting, look dreadful. She could feel blood running down her back, and it was distracting her. She found herself even more distracted by Tony and his team. Tony kept screaming her name and she was finding it very difficult to focus, both because she was worried for him and because she could feel the life she had built for herself crumbling down around her. Glancing at Angel, she saw that he had finished off one of his demons but was still dealing with the other one. She, on the other hand, still had three demons. They kept fighting and she could feel herself losing the battle, energy, and hope.

Tony could see it too. He was blown away by Ellie's fighting skills. He had never known that she could fight at all, but, nevertheless, he could see that she was losing. She was a bloody mess and she had this glazed look in her eyes that he had never seen in her before. She was losing and she knew it. He just hoped she didn't give up hope. If she did, she would be the next woman he saw murdered at the center of that pentagram.

Angel killed his final demon and made his way over to his lost love. Once he got close, he could see immediately what the problem was. She had the right moves and she was still strong, but the fire that had made her such a successful Slayer was now gone. She seemed listless. "Buffy, you need to keep fighting," he yelled. He ducked into the fray, placing himself back-to-back with her, attempting to keep the three Sargniss at bay. "You need to remember who you are. You are not the girl who sits quietly by while some demons disembowel you. Where are the quips? Where's the anger? You have to fight, Buffy: body and soul."

"I can't," she cried, as she took an especially nasty hit to the chest. On a lesser woman, it would have broken her ribs.

"Yes you can," he promised. "Just get angry, like you used to. Use that fire you once told Kendra to use. Remember those things that keep you fighting. Remember your friends."

At that moment, images flooded Ellie's mind. She remembered Willow and Xander. She remembered Dawn. She even remembered Giles. And she suddenly felt an unbelievable anger fill her. She had spent years trying to forget about those people, those people who had betrayed her and turned their backs on her when she needed them most. She felt fire fill her veins.

Ellie redoubled her efforts, allowing her mind to block out Tony, his team, her personal problems, and even Angel. She took out the first of the Sargniss with a swift kick to his jaw that snapped his head back, breaking his neck. Then, using a punch-kick combo, Ellie knocked the second Sargniss back, right onto a jagged pipe. Turning her full attention to the final demon and completely blocking Angel out of the fight, Ellie became ferocious. Angel stepped back, seeing that Ellie was in the zone; he did, however, hand her a knife. Before he could even blink, she had the blade of the dagger embedded in the final demon's throat, its blood spraying across her face and body. Angel smiled briefly remembering another battle in which he had gone to save Buffy and had instead been able to stand back and watch the show: the preacher. Of course, Buffy had been quipping the entire time then. Not now. Now she had a grim determinedness that unnerved him slightly. It was like she had all the fight back, but none of the fire.

Ellie stepped back from the demon's body, breathing hard through her mouth, feeling the blood run off her—both hers and the demons'. She could hear her heart beating, and the rushing in her head drowned out all the other noises. All she could hear was her heart and her breath, which in her experience was a good thing; it meant she had survived the battle and beaten her foe. It took her nearly thirty seconds to realize that Angel was holding her arm and trying to get her attention. "Buffy," he said, his voice filled with concern at the glazed look in her eyes. "Buffy."

Shaking herself out of her reverie, Ellie looked up into Angel's eyes. "I killed them," she said flatly.

"Buffy, we need to rescue your co-workers now," said Angel, trying to snap Buffy out of it. And that worked.

"Oh, G-d," she sighed, surging toward her husband and his team. "Are you guys OK?" she asked them.

The team was simply flabbergasted. What could they say? Were they physically all right? Yes. Were they emotionally all right? Not even close. The tenets of normality that they had once held so closely and believed in so strongly had just been proven wrong. There were monsters in the world—monsters they could not fathom. And Ellie knew how to fight them. Ellie, Tony's sweet little wife, had just beaten those monsters in hand-to-hand combat.

Finally finding his voice, Gibbs said, "We're tied up."

"Geez, sorry," apologized Ellie, rushing forward to untie them. She avoided making eye contact with anyone as she did it. She couldn't bear to see the fear and reproach in their faces. Once that was done, she just stood back and let them collect themselves.

"What just happened?" rasped Tony.

Ellie found herself at a loss for words. How could she shatter everything her husband had held to be true: his view of the world, his perception of her. She found that she couldn't do it.

But Angel, gallant as ever, stepped forward for her. "Those were demons," he explained, feeling pity for these people who had essentially just discovered that the world was flat.

"Demons?" questioned Tim, not quite believing what he was hearing despite what he had just seen.

Angel took an unneeded breath and plowed ahead: "Before men had dominion over the Earth, demons did. Slowly though, the humans grew stronger and forced the demons into the shadows. Vestiges still remain from those days. Demons like these who are hell-bent to return the world to what it once was: a paradise for demons. The creatures that small children believe in but grownups convince themselves can't be real: They are."

"So, these things aren't human?" questioned Jimmy, still trying to grasp what he had just been told.

"No, they're demons," said Angel slowly, looking at Jimmy in confusion. He didn't think he could have been any clearer.

"And you fight these … demons?" questioned Ziva, jumping aboard the bandwagon much more quickly and efficiently than the others.

"Yes," answered Angel.

"Are you a demon?" asked Tony quietly.

Angel was about to answer when he saw that Tony was looking at Buffy. Ellie just continued to stare at the ground.

"What are you?" Tony asked more loudly this time. "The things you did weren't human. You were too strong, too fast. Are you the same 'demon' as those things you just killed? Huh?"

"Don't talk to her like that," interjected Angel, coming to his former lover's defense.

"Stay out of it," said Tony angrily. "Ellie, I asked you a question: What are you?"

"I'm human," she answered, a single tear running down her face.

"You expect me to believe that?"

"It's true," she said, shrugging dejectedly. "I'm just … enhanced."

"Why? How? With drugs?" asked Tony.

"No, with … with … I don't know," she said frustratedly. "I just am."

"I just don't know if I believe you anymore," said Tony. "You've been lying to me and keeping secrets from me lately. You haven't been honest all week, so why should I believe that you're being honest now?"

As another tear slid down her face, Angel stepped back into the ring. "She's human, all right? Trust me."

"Trust you?" snarled tony. "Trust you? I don't even know what you are, but I know you are not human. I saw what I saw during that fight. Your face, it changed. You're a monster, too."

"For more reasons than one," said Gibbs. "He's the one who I saw kissing Ellie."

"What?" said Tony and Ellie at the same time.

"You were following me," raged Ellie at Gibbs. "How dare you!"

"How dare he? How dare you!" said Tony. "It's bad enough that you're secretly an enhanced human-demon thingy, but you had to cheat on me, too. You cheated with some monster thing!"

"Cheated?" questioned Angel. Turning to Buffy, he asked disapprovingly, "Buffy, you're dating this guy?"

"Oh. Yeah. Like you didn't know we were together when you kissed her," said Tony sarcastically. "You seem to know a hell of a lot more about her than I do. And why do you keep calling her 'Buffy'? Her name's Ellie."

"No it's not," argued Angel. "Some boyfriend you are; you don't even know her real name."

"Angel," hissed Buffy warningly. This was not how she wanted all of this to come out. Admittedly, she hadn't wanted any of this to come out at all, but, if it had to, certainly not this way.

"What's your real name?" asked Tony.

"I'm Ellie," she pleaded.

"That's not what I asked," Tony persisted. "What's your real name?"

"It's Buffy."

"Buffy what?"

"It doesn't matter. It's not my name anymore. I'm Ellie now," she said, moving forward to take Tony's hands. Tony backed up, keeping his hands out of her reach. "I'm Ellie Dinozzo."

"Dinozzo?" questioned Angel. "I thought you made your last name 'Merrick.'"

"I did," said Ellie, not turning around to look at him. She knew this would not be easy for him and she didn't think she could bear to watch him break in the same way she had just seen Tony break.

"Then where did 'Dinozzo' come from?" asked Angel, already knowing the answer deep down in a place he didn't want to go.

Ellie didn't respond—a kindness to Angel. She knew that hearing her say it would only hurt him more. They had once been so in love that even the thought of kissing another guy had seemed foreign and wrong to her.

Unfortunately, Tony did not have the same compassion for Angel. "She got it when she married me."

"You're married?" asked Angel, sounding so hurt that it nearly broke Ellie's heart.

Tony jumped to respond. "Yeah, she mar—"

"I wasn't asking you," growled Angel, one step away from going into full vamp-face.

"Yes. I'm married," sighed Ellie.

"Wow, thanks for making it sound like a death knell, Ellie," said Tony.

Ignoring Tony, Ellie walked toward Angel; unlike Tony, Angel did not move away, but allowed Ellie to take his hands. "I fell in love, Angel. G-d knows I wasn't looking for it, but I found it. I love him and I couldn't ignore that."

"I know," said Angel, swallowing hard. "I guess I just always thought that one day we would get back together. I was just waiting for you to become cookies."

"I know. I really thought we'd get back together when I became cookies, too," said Ellie, much to the puzzlement of everyone else there. Then, in her usual manner of taking things too far, she continued: "It's like, I became cookies, but not the kind of cookies I thought I was going to be. I thought I would be chocolate chip cookies, but I turned into oatmeal cookies. It surprised me, too, Angel."

"Why didn't you tell me? Before?" asked Angel.

"I don't know. I really don't."

"You should have told me when I kissed you."

"I know. I'm sorry." Sighing and raking her fingers through her hair, Ellie continued: "Let's be honest, I should have told you when I got engaged. But I didn't. I guess I thought it would be too callous, too cruel. I didn't want to hurt you."

"I think this hurts more," said Angel.

"I know, I know. It's just … do you remember when I told you I was dating Riley? What you said to me?" Angel shook his head, not because he didn't remember but because he remembered all too well the harsh words he had said to her. Buffy kept going: "You told me that it was unfair of me to barge in and tell you all about my great new life. You reminded me that I could move on, but that you never could. I was wrong then and I didn't want to be wrong again."

"Look, I hate to interrupt this _moment_ you two are having, but, actually, I don't care," interjected Tony at rope's end. "Ellie—or Buffy—whatever your name is—what is all of this? Has our entire life together been a lie? There are so many things you never told me and now you're practically hanging all over this guy—who you've never mentioned—and expect me to keep quiet. That isn't how this works. I'm your husband, not your prop."

"I know that, Tony," said Ellie, full-on crying now. "I love you."

"Yeah, but is that enough? Are we even really married? You didn't use your real name; is our marriage legal? What else have you been hiding from me? Do you have other demon lovers out there?"

"Vampire," clarified Angel.

"Oh, I'm sorry; do you have any other vampire lovers out there?"

"No," said Ellie, even though she knew that both she and Angel knew she was lying. She had never truly loved Spike, but she had slept with him and she had certainly felt a kind of tenderness for him.

"So tell me, Ellie, is love enough?" asked Tony, desperately needing to know the answer. He knew he loved Ellie with all of his heart, but he couldn't just ignore this betrayal. And he knew he loved Ellie, but did he love Buffy? Had she ever shown even a glimpse of her true self to him or had he been doomed to live with a mirage? "Is it?"

"No, I know it's not."

x TBC x

_Leaving reviews is what cool people do._


	7. Hurried Explanations

**Changes and Choices**

_Disclaimer: I do not own "Buffy: the Vampire Slayer," "Angel," or "NCIS."_

_AN: Special thanks to those amazing people who reviewed (especially those who review time and again): _mardar, fieryhairedmaiden92, MaeganM.0816, sambam17, dreameralways, Nedy Rahn _(twice!)_, milady89, _and_ BeccaLuv81001.

**Chapter 7**

**Hurried Explanations**

Is love enough? Her husband was basically asking her if their marriage would work out and she knew it. But she did not know how to answer. She knew that love wasn't enough. She and Angel had loved each other more than they had ever loved anyone else before. She had been unable to imagine a future without him. But it hadn't been enough. He had left after graduation and, although the spark was still there—would always be there—they had never gotten back together. What made her and Angel so different from her and Tony? Love wasn't enough. And Tony didn't seem very keen on remaining married to her right now. Perhaps this was his way of looking for an out. So Ellie gave him what she thought he wanted: "No, I know it's not."

Tony nodded once, curtly. "So what do we do now?"

Ellie looked down at her shoes and shrugged.

As much as this realization was killing Tony and Ellie, it was hurting the others as well. Ziva and Tim had always held Ellie and Tony's marriage up as proof that one could be in their line of work and still have a successful personal life. They had always seemed so happy. And Gibbs sure as hell wasn't going to give up on their relationship. He had been willing to turn his back on Ellie when he thought she was cheating, but not now. Now that he knew she was some kind of superhero fighting these monsters. He had always been so proud of Tony for being able to have a fulfilling personal life despite all the sicknesses and such that they saw daily at work. But now, after seeing Ellie in action and watching the intense emotions appear and then quickly vanish from her face, he knew that he was even more proud of Ellie. She clearly had a lot to overcome as well. She saw things that no one else saw. She had no one to talk to, to keep the monsters at bay. And still, she had tried to make her marriage work. Gibbs wasn't going to let Tony's marriage flicker and die if he could help it.

"I think we should get out of this warehouse and discuss all this somewhere a bit more comfortable … and less open," said Gibbs. "Let's go to NCIS."

"No," said Ellie and Angel simultaneously.

"Why not?" asked Gibbs suspiciously.

"Well," answered Angel, "law enforcement doesn't have the best track record in dealing with things like this. Buffy's been arrested for fighting demons. It just doesn't make for the best atmosphere."

"Also," said Ellie, jumping in to keep Angel from saying anything more about her police record, "you did say somewhere comfortable. I've never really thought of NCIS as cozy. Let's just go home, to mine and Tony's apartment."

"Yes," agreed Ducky, "I would certainly appreciate comfortable."

It was then that Ellie noticed the gash on his forehead, which, although it had stopped bleeding, still needed medical attention. "We need to get this taken care of," said Ellie, inspecting Ducky's head more closely. "I don't think you need stitches, but a couple of butterfly bandages might help. I think I have some at home."

"We do," agreed Tony, avoiding looking at his wife.

"Wait," said Tim, as everyone began to leave. "This is a crime scene. A woman was murdered here."

Gibbs chest swelled at that. He wouldn't say it out loud, but he was proud of Tim. In light of all the revelations of the day, he had completely forgotten that, as an NCIS agent, he couldn't just leave a crime scene. But Tim had remembered. "He's right," said Gibbs.

"And what," asked Angel, "are you going to tell your people? How do you know a woman was murdered? You saw it and didn't stop it? Because of _demons_? They'll think you've gone crazy. Nothing can help that woman now. Buffy and I will take care of her murderers, I promise you that. But there is nothing you can do."

"He's right, Gibbs," said Ellie. "We need to leave now."

~ x ~ x ~ x ~

When the group arrived at Ellie and Tony's apartment, they had trouble deciding what to do and where to look. The only person who seemed to move with any kind of purpose was Ellie. She quickly invited Angel in, much to Tony's chagrin, and then dragged Ducky into the bathroom to wash and bandage his head.

"You're quite good at this, you know," praised Ducky, as Ellie fitted the last piece of tape into place.

Chuckling, Ellie responded, "Well, I've had a whole lot of practice." Off of Ducky's look, she continued: "Occupational hazard."

"And what exactly is your occupation, aside from being the director's lovely assistant?"

"Lately," said Ellie, stressing the word, "I've only been Director Vance's secretary. This was my first fight in years. I gave it all up years ago."

Looking into her eyes and truly trying to understand her, Ducky asked, "And do you want it all back now? Do you want to leave Tony and run off with this Angel fellow?"

"G-d no," said Ellie, laughing. And then, sobering, she responded more seriously, "I left that life for a reason. I've been happy here … with this life, with Tony."

"Then why, dear girl, did you signal to Tony that it was all over?"

Ellie's breath caught and she felt tears gather in her eyes. In that instant, Ducky sounded so much like Giles. It caught her completely off-guard. It shocked her into answering truthfully. "I can't do this to him. I'm being dragged into this world, whether I like it or not, and I can't drag him down into the darkness with me. I love him too much for that. He'll be safer without me."

"Don't you think he should have some say in this?"

"He won't even look at me," cried Ellie softly, her shoulders shaking gently.

"Then perhaps you should make him," counseled Ducky.

Meanwhile, outside the bathroom, things remained tense. Angel and Tony kept stealing furtive glances at each other. Angel knew not to start anything with Tony, vividly remembering his fight with Riley and Buffy's pursuant displeasure. It wasn't like he had started it even! But this wasn't just some college chump, this was Buffy's husband. Husband. Every time he thought it, the word sent him into a tailspin. He had never imagined Buffy married before. He knew it was selfish, but since he and Buffy couldn't get married, he had always assumed that neither of them would. She had moved on. And it hurt.

Tony, on the other hand, didn't even know what to think about Angel. In light of all of the day's revelations, he really wasn't sure where a vampire ex-boyfriend, who may not be as ex as Tony would like, ranked. He wouldn't lie; it threw him. A vampire?! He hated vampires. He had been scared of them since he was a little boy. What was worse than the vampire aspect was the secretive aspect. Not only had she never told him about demons and her previous life, but she had never even mentioned an ex-boyfriend named Angel. She had told him about that jerk Riley and that uber-jerk Parker, but never Angel. She hadn't trusted him enough to tell him about her past, even the non-demon-y aspects of it. And it hurt.

Everyone else was just ambling about, trying to figure out if they should sit or not, afraid to look at Tony or at this mysterious Angel. The room was filled with tension and they just didn't know what to do.

"I should make a full recovery," announced Ducky, as he entered with a flourish, "thanks to Ellie's skilled ministrations." Behind Ducky, Ellie entered the room more sedately.

"OK," said Gibbs, pushing Tony down onto the couch, grabbing Ellie, and sitting her down in the easy-chair. "Talk, Ellie." His words lacked the usual bite they would have had in an interrogation room. He liked Ellie and hated to think she was a cheating liar. He wanted her to speak and proclaim it all untrue.

After taking a few steadying breaths, Ellie addressed everyone. "I'm the Slayer," she said simply.

After seeing that that was all she intended to say, Gibbs urged her on. "The Slayer?" he asked.

"Well, _a_ Slayer," corrected Ellie quickly, "at least these days."

"Buffy," interjected Angel, "you're terrible at this."

"Would you like to do it?" asked Ellie testily.

"Fine," said Angel, unable to back down from the challenge. Turning to the others, he began: "Buffy—or Ellie, whatever you call her—is the Slayer. That means that she is gifted with enhanced strength, speed, and skill to fight the forces of darkness. She is human though, just special."

"How did you get these abilities?" asked Ziva.

Off of Ellie's shrug, Angel said, "She was Chosen. The Powers That Be gave her these abilities. When one Slayer dies, the next one is called. The Slayer before Buffy was killed and Buffy got activated."

"When?" croaked Tony. "When were you 'activated'?"

Before Angel could answer, Ellie jumped in. "I was fifteen, sophomore year of high school."

"Fifteen?" spluttered Tim in disbelief. "Why so young?"

"Because that's how it's done," said Ellie resignedly. "Why question what you can't change?"

"Because that is how we bring about change, Ellie," said Ducky solemnly. Ellie had no response for him.

"How many Slayers are there?" asked Ziva. Ellie was impressed with how well the team was taking everything, but, then again, people always did better with the truth after seeing direct proof of it. They had seen her kill demons. They couldn't think she was crazy without consigning themselves to the same fate.

"'One girl in all the world,'" intoned Ellie, answering Ziva's question, "or, it used to be. Now there are hundreds. It's why I was able to retire."

"You don't seem very retired right now," remarked Tony caustically.

"That's my fault," interjected Angel. "I pulled her out of retirement. We have big problems here in DC and I need her."

"Why her?" asked Tony, standing up again so that he would be level with Angel, who was leaning against the wall. "She just said that there are hundreds of other Slayers. Why her?"

"It needs to be her," answered Angel. "There's a prophecy."

"He's right," agreed Ellie, remembering another time she had tried to skirt a prophecy. It hadn't worked; the Master had killed her. "I need to do this. There's no way out of the prophecy. I'm sorry." Her voice cracked a bit on the last word. She truly was sorry—sorry that she had to do this to him and sorry that the beautiful life she had created for herself had been destroyed.

"Then I need to know," said Tony, taking Ellie's small hands—hands he had just found out had killed numerous creatures—in his own larger ones and kneeling down in front of her, "are you doing this because of him—" he jerked his head at Angel "—or because this is what you really want?"

"Neither," said Ellie, scooting forward in her seat until she was nearly sitting on Tony's lap. "I'm doing this because I was Chosen, because I have a sacred duty, a responsibility. I've tried to run away from it before and it didn't work. After my first Watcher, my first mentor," she clarified, "Merrick, died, I thought I could escape everything. I was in a new high school. But it all just found me again. And, when I was sixteen, there was another prophecy and I tried to run away from that one too. I couldn't. I have run away so many times, but I am done running now."

"Then what was this?" asked Tony. "Because moving cross-country and changing your name sure looks like running."

"You're right," she said. "At the time I convinced myself that I wasn't running; I was starting over. That was a lie. The lie just kept being perpetuated though when it didn't fall down in shambles around me. I managed to run away for years. But I can't run away anymore. I'm going to help Angel fight this battle and then I'm going to come back. If you still want me, that is." She trailed off a bit at the end, unused to showing that kind of weakness.

"You said our love wasn't enough though," he reminded her.

"It's not," she insisted. "It takes cooperation and acceptance and a lot of things. Mostly it takes resolve; we both need to say we're committed and then we need to make it work. If we are both committed, I know we can work this out." Glancing at Angel, she said, "Love helps, but it is not enough."

Tony noticed his wife's wayward glance, but decided to question her about it later. Too much of their personal life had been on display recently. He couldn't forget that his entire team was in the room with them. But, just to be sure, he asked quietly, whispering in her ear, "So, you didn't cheat on me with Angel then?"

"No," said Ellie softly, "definitely not." She looked deep into Tony's eyes reassuring him and then glancing amusedly at Angel, knowing that he had heard her husband's question with his vampiric hearing. Refocusing on Tony, Ellie asked, "We good?"

"Yeah, we're good," he answered, leaning forward to capture her lips with his own. He was still angry with her for lying to him, but he loved her too much to let it stop him. When they had first gotten together, everyone had teased him about her being so much younger and about how she was exactly his "type." He had just ignored them, knowing that his attraction to her went far beyond any of that. He would just have to remember those things that had drawn him to her in the first place. He wouldn't lie: Sometimes he felt like Jimmy Stewart in _Vertigo_, chatting up the much younger woman, but most of the time he just felt his love for Ellie. All that mattered now was that he loved her. He had love and resolve.

"Good," echoed Ellie, as he drew back. Sighing, she made to stand up.

"Where are you going?" asked Tony, standing up as well.

"Angel I need to nip this thing in the butt," she answered.

"Bud," corrected Angel exasperatedly but with a hint of a smile. It reminded him of how she had confused the word "dike" with "duck," resulting in a very weird story in which a boy stuck his finger into a duck.

"Whatever," allowed Ellie, rolling her eyes. "I'll see you later," she said to Tony, getting up on tiptoes to kiss him goodbye.

"Wait," said Tony. "I'm going with you."

"No, you're not," ordered Ellie, with a small frown.

"Yes, I am," argued Tony. "Why not? If this thing is as bad as your ex seems to be making it, you could use me. I saw what those things did to that woman. You need me."

"No, I don't," Ellie argued back. "You can't come."

"But why?" whined Tony.

"Because it's too dangerous," snapped Ellie. "These aren't human murderers and terrorists; they're demons. This isn't your world; it's mine. When people enter my world, they tend to die. Fighting demons isn't as glamorous as it looks. It's not like _Charmed_, OK? It's not all sexy. It's death and it's pain and it's my job. It's not yours."

"But we can help," interjected Gibbs calmly. He could understand where Ellie was coming from; he would be just as irritated and adamant if a civilian asked to carry a gun and disarm a bomb. Nevertheless, he was determined to help and he knew that his team felt the same way. They didn't like feeling helpless, and watching that woman die had been terrible. They needed to protect the next woman, even if they died trying. Killing demons may not be their job, but protecting people was.

"I never said you wouldn't help," said Ellie hotly. "But, I've seen this before. Civilians—" Gibbs made a face as Ellie used that word to describe him "—want to get involved. They promise that they'll stay out of the way and only help, but it doesn't end well. Maybe they don't die. Maybe they do manage to help. But it never lasts. I've been here before. I've dragged others down into the darkness with me and I lost them all. They didn't all die, but these things change people. Perfectly sweet girls turn into murderous magic junkies and slightly goofy boys turn into angry, spiteful men."

Angel knew who Buffy was talking about and he felt his heart bleed for her. After his team had died, he had had to work really hard to stave off depression. At least he had been able to comfort himself with the knowledge that, despite all the fights and mistrust, at the end his team had been a cohesive family. They had trusted each other and, although it had cost many lives, they went out believing in what they did and were glad to be fighting alongside each other. Buffy didn't have anything like that in that final battle against The First. She may have been surrounded by allies, but she had still been alone.

"What have you been through?" asked Gibbs, not without sympathy.

"It's a long story," answered Ellie wearily, "and I really don't have time to go into it now. Maybe later I'll tell you guys my long, sad sob-story, but not now. Now I need to go and I need you guys to stay here, safe. I can't do my job if I'm worrying about you guys. I love you all and need you to be all right."

"We'll be here when you get back," assured Abby, speaking for the first time since they had arrived at Ellie and Tony's apartment. "Be careful." It was an order, not a request.

Ellie smiled gratefully and nodded, before following Angel out the door. They had nineteen hours until the Sargniss had to sacrifice their sixth victim and Ellie knew her long day was just starting.

x TBC x

_Go ahead, make my day. Leave a review. I dare you._


	8. The Tedium of Research

**Changes and Choices**

_Disclaimer: I do not own "Buffy: the Vampire Slayer," "Angel," or "NCIS."_

_AN: Thank you so much to my reviewers: _smilin steph, lizziebug, sambam17, Wild320, joeb1286, Nedy Rahn, _and_ Mistress Saturn1. Smilin Steph, _your review made me laugh; "wahoo" to you, too._

**Chapter 8**

**The Tedium of Research**

It was noon now and Gibbs and his team were ensconced in Ducky's morgue. They mostly sat there in silence, although every ten minutes or so, someone would say "hmm" or ask if the previous night had really happened. They dealt with a lot of weird things in their job, but this was beyond the pale. They had been sitting like this for a while.

Back at Ellie and Tony's home, after Ellie and Angel had left, they had all sat in complete, contemplative silence for nearly an hour, trying to observe everything they had seen and heard. Finally, Gibbs, seeing how lost his team was, pulled them all together. It was 6 a.m. and he knew the team needed guidance right now. If he let this wallowing continue for too long, it could become permanent. He glanced worriedly at Tony and nodded approvingly when he saw Tony picking at the dirt under his fingernails. "For G-d's sake, Tony," he blustered, causing the others to jump in alarm, "just wash them."

"Uh, yeah, Boss," replied Tony a tad nervously before a small grin appeared upon his face. "I'll just go do that. Be right back. Maybe take a shower" With that, Tony stood up and left for the building's locker room.

"You should all go home, get showered," he instructed his team. Seeing the fear in their eyes at being separated, he added, "I expect you all at NCIS in two hours."

After that, everyone had done exactly what Gibbs had told them to do and then returned to NCIS.

Although Gibbs had taken charge earlier this morning, he was now at a loss for what to do to help his team. He was usually quite good at helping people through large shocks, but he wasn't usually dealing with a large shock himself at the same time. He first had to figure out how he was going to deal with this new information before he could even hope to help his team.

Surprisingly, it was Tony who pulled himself together. "We should eat lunch," he said. "I'll order us some pizzas. It's easier than anything else."

"Yeah," agreed Tim, sounding very distracted.

"PIZZA," shouted Tony, making everyone jump. He shot out of his seat and trotted gaily to Ducky's phone, dialing the number from memory. After ordering pizzas, he turned back to the team, who were all just staring at him in disbelief. "Look, we're all alive, so I say we celebrate. We could have died last night. We didn't."

"Tony, how can you act so … cavalier?" questioned Ziva, worried that her partner was just ignoring the issues at hand. She knew from personal experience that pushing down your feelings didn't end well for you or those you cared about. She was still working on being more open. Tony was handling all this a little too well.

"I can't just sit here stewing, Ziva. I need to do something, even if that something is ordering pizza and running around. Sitting here just makes me think about it more and I can't do that. My mind isn't getting any further; it's just running in circles. All sitting here and thinking is doing is making me feel bad. I don't want that. Let's eat."

"All right," agreed Ziva, smiling for the first time, "let's eat."

And suddenly, it seemed like a stifling blanket had been lifted from the team. Gibbs could already see the color coming back into their cheeks. He knew that one day, when he retired, Tony would be a great team leader.

~ x ~ x ~ x ~

Things weren't going so well back at Angel's hotel room. He and Ellie were pouring through the numerous tomes Angel had brought with him and finding bupkus.

"This is really not my thing," grumbled Ellie.

"Well, we don't have Wesley or Willow here to do it for us," bit off Angel, equally frustrated. Both he and Buffy were "people" of action; sitting and doing research drove them both absolutely crazy.

"OK, let's go over what we have again," said Ellie for what must have been the thirtieth time. "These demons are called the Sargniss …"

"Yeah," interrupted Angel, recapping the information he had discovered on his own before hooking up with Buffy. "The Sargniss are sometimes also called the Clan of Blood. There are a lot of them—"

"—although we killed like five already—"

"—and they are vaguely reptilian. You know, if reptiles had venomous saliva and were ridiculously strong."

"Reptiles are ridiculously strong. Saltwater crocodiles can exert 3,700 pounds-per-square-inch of pressure with their jaws; they have the strongest jaws in the animal kingdom. … And Komodo dragons have venomous saliva. We're basically fighting giant Crocodile-Komodo dragons that want to destroy the world," said Ellie. "Why do I know all that?" she added, muttering under her breath.

"Nobody knows," responded Angel in a matching mutter. "Anyway, they _are_ demons, so … yeah."

"What do we know about the ritual?" prompted Ellie.

"The Hadesmort Ritual," said Angel, for what felt like the umpteenth time. "Every night, at midnight—"

"—the witching hour—" joked Ellie.

"—for a week, the Sargniss need to sacrifice a woman in the middle of a specially made pentagram. The pentagram soaks up the blood and the women's life energies. At the end of the week, the spell will have enough power to open a doorway to Hell, or a hell dimension, and the world will be sucked through. It's your typical 'suck the world into Hell' spell."

"And it doesn't need to be virgin blood?" checked Ellie.

"No."

"Or that specific pentagram?"

"No, they can change locations if necessary."

"And the prophecy is in Aramaic," said Ellie, searching for the paper that had the translation. Finding it, she said, "And it reads: 'The ensouled vampire striving for redemption'—you—'will join the thrice dead Slayer'—me, unfortunately—'to defeat the Clan of Blood'—the Sargniss—'and only through their true love can they be victorious.'" After taking a deep breath, Ellie asked, "So, what the hell does that mean?"

"I don't know," said Angel petulantly. "It's like the people who wrote prophecies got an absurd pleasure out of making them as vague and useless as possible. Also, I don't really have a great track record with deciphering prophecies." Ellie gave him an odd look, questioning his meaning. "You know, there was a prophecy saying that I would be instrumental in the fight with Acathla. Well, I was instrumental. I was instrumental in awakening him." Angel avoided Ellie's eyes. The whole mess with Acathla was a good example of his track record with prophecies, but it wasn't the prime example. Angel tried very hard to banish thoughts of the false prophecy that Sahjhan had planted. He had stupidly fallen for it and lost his infant and his friend. He remembered smothering Wesley in the hospital and he felt awful about it. After he had calmed down a bit and seen how Sahjhan had pulled all their strings like damned puppets, he had been able to see what Wesley had been trying to do. If his and Wesley's positions had been switched, he probably would have done the same thing.

"Yeah," said Ellie, not realizing where Angel's train of thought had gone. "I hate prophecies. So what, we stand in the center of the pentagram and make out?"

Angel shot her a scurrilous look. "We have two problems to solve now. First, we need to find out what the hell the prophecy means, which won't happen. As we know from experience, you can't do anything to further the occurrence of a prophecy. It will happen whether you plan for it or not. I say we just sit back and let it happen."

"Check," agreed Ellie, remembering her death while fighting the Master.

"Second, we need to figure out where the Sargniss are now. When we went back to the warehouse after saving your, um, husband, they had cleared out. They probably have a new place, but we don't know where it is. I couldn't even find them the last time."

"There has to be a way," said Ellie, picking up another book and randomly flipping through it.

They both fell into silence as they read, Angel just waiting for his ex to ask, yet again, what they had so far. Angel rolled his eyes when Ellie cleared her throat, trying to figure out the best way to run through their information quickly again. He was shocked, however, when she said, "I think I found something."

"What is it?" he asked, coming around to her to look over her shoulder. Being this close to her, even after all this time, still wasn't easy. She still used the same shampoo and he found the smell familiar and comforting. He just wanted to wrap his arms around her and never let go. But he didn't. He held himself back. He had to remember that she was a married woman now.

"There is this spell to measure mystical energy output," she said. "If we, I don't know, calibrate it or something, we can make the spell focus on the energy for the ritual. Right?" asked Ellie, looking to Angel for confirmation.

"I guess," said Angel, "but we still only have the two of us. We would need someone with magic to work this."

"Not necessarily," said Ellie. "It looks pretty basic. If we get the right supplies, I think we can make this work. Being a Slayer kind of gives me an edge in these things."

Heading over to his laptop, which he had gotten much better at using in recent years now that he didn't have Cordelia there to forward emails for him, Angel pulled up one of the many databases Cordelia had created. "What is that?" asked Ellie.

"Cordy made a database of all the reputable magic shops in North America," explained Angel. Off of Ellie's incredulous look, he shrugged and said, "She was convinced that if she did extra work, I'd have to pay her more."

"Did you?"

"She was already making more than everyone else," he explained, snorting softly. "Anyway, I have two shops here in the DC area that sell quality stuff." He quickly jotted down the addresses and handed the paper to Ellie.

"What, are your feet broken?" she quipped.

"It's daytime," he reminded her with a quirked eyebrow.

"Sorry," she apologized quickly. "I forgot, I guess. I haven't been in contact with this world for a while."

"It's OK," Angel assured her.

Ellie grabbed the list and got up to leave, before stopping with her hand on the doorknob.

"What's wrong?" asked Angel.

"This won't work," Ellie said, sounded like she was going to cry.

"Why not?" asked Angel, utterly confused. Ellie's plan seemed like a great idea.

"This spell measures spikes in energy and can tell us where they are coming from while they're happening," she said, as if that explained everything.

"I'm still not getting it," said Angel.

"Angel," said Ellie, turning around and looking into his eyes, "the energy spikes when they sacrifice another woman. If we rely on this spell, we have to wait for them to kill someone else. We have to _let_ them kill someone else."

Angel froze for the briefest moment and plowed on ahead. "OK, here's what we're going to do," he said. "You go and get the stuff and I'll stay here and keep researching. If I find something else, we won't use your spell. But if I don't, she'll die anyway, so let's use her death to save the world. Let's not make her die in vain."

"Right," agreed Ellie, seeing the logic in his plan although she was still unhappy with it. "Good luck," she said before walking out.

While she was gone, Angel read through as many books as he could to find an alternative, but he kept coming up empty. He wanted, more than anything, to find another way, but most of the spells that would have been useful, required either weeks of preparation or a skilled witch to work the mojo. They had neither. They had half a day and themselves. That was it. They could try to call in Willow, he knew, but, as he had experienced in the past, the new Watchers' Council tended to ignore phone calls from him. As much as it upset him to let this woman die, he really couldn't see an alternative.

Ellie returned an hour and a half later with the ingredients for the spell. "Any luck?" she asked Angel.

"No," he answered in his best broody voice.

"All right," said Ellie, sitting down to continue researching with him.

Suddenly, Ellie yelped and Angel jumped back from the table. The lamp next to the bed fell to the floor with a crash and books were jarred off the table. Grabbing Ellie, Angel got them both into the doorway.

"An earthquake," said Angel unnecessarily, as they held on while the world shook around them. He wasn't very fond of earthquakes, but, looking at Ellie, he could see that she liked them even less than he did. She looked terrified. He finally gave into his impulses and wrapped her in his arms, hugging her so tightly that it would have hurt a normal woman.

Once the shaking had stopped, Angel drew back. "Are you OK?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said, still shaking even though the earth had stopped. "I just really don't like earthquakes." Angel silently agreed with her. They both knew that earthquakes were bad omens. "I guess this thing is really real then," said Ellie. After taking a few deep breaths to steady herself, she said, "Let's get back to work." With that, they both began picking books up off of the floor. After that, neither of them stopped reading, even during the aftershocks.

After hours of reading with no success, Ellie closed the book she had been scanning with an audible snap. "We have two hours 'til midnight," she announced forlornly. "I think I should start setting up the spell. It might take a while."

"Yeah," agreed Angel.

"I'm going to call Tony first," she said, avoiding Angel's eyes.

But he wouldn't let her. Approaching her, he made her look at him and then said, "Good. Don't give up your life for this, Buffy. It never ends well. Call him and tell him you love him."

With a swift nod, Ellie took her mobile into the bathroom for some privacy.

Tony answered on the first ring. _"Hey, Ellie,"_ he said jovially.

"Hey, Tony," she responded somewhat confused. She had not expected quite such a joyful answer. "How are you?" she asked nervously.

"_I'm good,"_ he answered and she could just hear the shrug in his voice. _"When are you going to be home?"_

"Um, not for a while. There's a lot going on."

"_Yeah, I get that. The entire team is at Gibbs' house right now. We're kind of just hanging out, absorbing, riding out the aftershocks."_

"Right," said Ellie, more worried than ever. There was such a thing as handling things too well.

"_Ellie,"_ he said more seriously. _Well, here it comes,_ thought Ellie, somewhat relieved. _"We will talk later though, right? When all this is over?"_

"Definitely, Tony. G-d, I miss you so much."

"_I miss you, too. I like seeing you at work."_

"At work?" asked Ellie. "You went to work?"

"_Well, we didn't really get anything done, but yeah. Also, I told Vance you had the flu, so you have a few days off."_

"That's good," said Ellie, really meaning it. "I've got to go, but I'll call again soon." She was about to hang up when she remembered what Angel had said to her, "Oh, and Tony, I love you."

"_I love you, too,"_ he responded, sounding relieved.

She hung up, feeling much more uplifted, and rejoined Angel, who had already begun setting up for the spell.

"I was thinking," said Angel, pointedly not asking about her phone call, "that you should stay here and do the spell while I go to the warehouse district."

"Why?" asked Ellie.

"Well, I figured, they were in that warehouse for a reason," explained Angel. "Small chance of them being found, isolated, plenty of space. It makes sense that they would find another warehouse, probably not too far away. I figured I'd go to the warehouses and you'd call me as soon as you knew something. I don't know, maybe I can get there in time to save her." They both knew he couldn't, but neither of them was going to say it.

Two hours later, Ellie called Angel. "I know where they are." She gave him the address and he went, strictly for recon. That being said, Angel was not prepared for what he saw when he got there. The young woman was still lying in the center of the pentagram, her eyes wide and unseeing. Her face still held its final emotion: fear.

Even worse, there were far more Sargniss than Angel had anticipated. Clearly, the Clan of Blood had been bulking up their numbers. There were about fifty demons there and Angel was not confident about that number. He and Buffy had been seriously winded after taking out five. They could not take out fifty alone. They needed help.

Angel looked around a bit more but didn't see anything that would help them defeat the Sargniss or that could give him a clue as to what the prophecy meant. After nearly twenty minutes, Angel decided not to press his luck. He didn't want to be found. He stealthily made his way out of the warehouse and headed back to the hotel to regroup—or repartner, as there was no group—with Buffy and formulate a plan.

They had one more day.

x TBC x

_Please submit a review if you like what you've seen so far._


	9. Help Wanted

**Changes and Choices**

_Disclaimer: I do not own "Buffy: the Vampire Slayer," "Angel," or "NCIS."_

_AN: Thank you so much to my reviewers for the last chapter, all of whom have reviewed before: _Nedy Rahn, sambam17, mardar, _and_ hungrypiranha. _Also_, hungrypiranha, _I completely agree with you._

**Chapter 9**

**Help Wanted**

"No," shouted Ellie again.

"Buffy, stop being so stubborn," yelled Angel. He could give just as good as he got.

"We'll find a way," she insisted.

"Yeah, we already did find a way—this way!"

Ellie let out a frustrated scream and stormed into the bathroom of Angel's motel room. Angel just wasn't listening to her. He always did this. He would make up his mind about something and then not listen to what anyone else had to say. It drove her crazy.

Meanwhile, back in the main room, Angel was pacing angrily. Ellie hadn't seen the Sargniss gathered in that warehouse. There had been close to fifty demons there. They needed help. He knew she didn't want to involve the NCIS team, but they needed the manpower. Tony and his coworkers were the only people they knew in DC who could help them. Sure, the army was there, but they did not have the connections there that they used to have … or that Buffy used to have. It wasn't like they could just call up Riley these days. As far as the information from Angel's underground network had told him, the Initiative had been radically restructured a few years ago. They were no longer even still part of the army. They were practically mercenaries now—mercenaries who weren't allowed to operate on American soil, like the CIA. There had been some sort of shake-up, worse than Adam, a few years ago and the U.S. government had basically disowned them. They couldn't just call up the Watchers' Council either. The new Council, run by the former Scoobies, had already shown their unwillingness to help Angel and his people. They had become so streamlined in the past few years that they just ignored anything that didn't fit neatly within their directives. They trained new Slayers; patrolled hotspots, like Cleveland and Helsinki; enhanced their Wicca network so they could control the world with just a nod of the head; and entirely forgot why they had gotten into this business. They had grown so large that they had forgotten the little people, the innocents who needed their help on a daily basis. They saw one victim killed by vampires as a casualty with which they couldn't waste their time. After all his years, Angel knew that there were casualties in war—this war against evil—but it didn't mean that he didn't mourn for each of those deaths. He may not be able to stop them, but he would never write off their deaths as mere statistics. And that was the Council's problem: hand-in-hand with their self-called "bigger picture" philosophy, they had grown pompous. They had grown so large and far-reaching that they assumed they knew everything. They hated getting tips from outsiders. In order for them to deal with the Sargniss, they needed to recognize the problem on their own. And he and Buffy just didn't have enough time for that.

Striding out of the bathroom, Ellie accused, "There must be someone you can call," and then she strode right back into the bathroom, shutting the door again.

Angel couldn't think of anyone … at first. Pulling out his phone, he hit his fifth speed dial, hoping she hadn't lost her phone. She wasn't always the most reliable person and she therefore didn't always answer her phone. He hadn't even spoken to her in six months. The mobile on the other end just rang and rang: no answer. Sighing, Angel sat down on the bed and stared at the clock. After five minutes he called again, hoping she had just been unable to reach her phone in time.

This time she picked up after the third ring. _"Hello,"_ she said. Her voice sounded tinny over the phone, but it was definitely her. Angel would know that odd inflection anywhere.

"Hey, Illyria. How are you?"

_ "I am adequate. Why are you contacting me?"_

"What? I can't just call you?" asked Angel, trying to drag out the phone call. He honestly didn't know why he bothered. He continually tried to make a personal connection with her, but each time she just shut him down. She was all he had left of his team in LA, even if it pained him to see her wearing the face of his dead friend. He didn't want to give up on the last vestige of his team, not entirely. There was a long pause as Illyria waited for him to continue. Illyria often just waited out Angel's banter. "Where are you?" he asked.

_"New York City. I have seen eleven Broadway shows." _After a pause, she added, _"_Chicago_ was very agreeable."_

"Of course," chuckled Angel. He didn't even bother asking her how she could afford to go to Broadway plays so often. "Look, we have a bit of a problem in DC, which is not that far from you. I'm here now. Do you think you can come down today? There should be a big fight tonight and we need some help."

_"I shall procure a motorcycle and see you in two hours."_

"It's a four-hour drive, Illyria," reminded Angel. She didn't respond. "I'll text you the address."

_"With whom do you fight?"_ asked Illyria.

"They're called the Sargniss; they're trying to end the world," answered Angel. "But I'll tell you more about it when you get here."

_"No, you misunderstand,"_ clarified Illyria. _"Who fights alongside you? You said 'we.'"_

"Oh, yeah," said Angel. "Buffy's here."

_ "I believed she had retired."_

"She did, but we need her. I'll explain more when you get here. Goodbye."

Illyria just hung up, not bothering with the pleasantries of a farewell.

Angel grinned briefly to himself and then rang another number.

_"Yo,"_ answered a scratchy, sexy voice on the other end.

"Hey, Faith. It's Angel."

_"Angel! How's it hanging?"_

"Not so great," admitted Angel. "I'm in DC and I need help with some demons. I would call the council, but—"

_"But they wouldn't help you,"_ interrupted Faith. _"Yeah, I know."_

"I was hoping you could come and help us—me and Buffy."

_"You're with B? No way. How is she?"_

"She's good," answered Angel, choosing his words carefully. "She's married."

_"Well, well, what do you know? B got herself a meat-stick. Good for her."_

"So, can you come?" Angel asked hopefully, ignoring Faith's crude language.

_"I might be able to get there in a few days,"_ said Faith regretfully. _"I'm dealing with some stuff here in Glasgow right now."_

"It's OK," said Angel disappointedly. "It's kind of a now-or-never deal. We'll get it done."

"_All right,"_ said Faith. _"Just, please call me when whatever you guys are doing is over. I want to know you guys are OK."_

"Will do," promised Angel. "Take care."

"_I always do,"_ responded Faith. _"Stay good."_

"Bye, Faith."

"_Bye."_

Hanging up, Angel walked over to the bathroom door and rapped gently on it. "What do you want?" asked Ellie irritably.

"Our duo is now a trio," he told her, hoping the news would improve her mood.

Opening the door, Ellie asked, without leaving the confines of the bathroom, "Who did you get?"

"Illyria's on her way down," he answered. "I tried to get Faith but she was busy." Shrugging he added, "But we definitely have Illyria."

"Good," said Ellie, nodding. She knew that Illyria was a good fighter and her superhuman strength was always welcome. Additionally, Illyria rarely cared about the fight enough to stray; she didn't follow her emotions, she followed the plan. She had done what she had been told in the battle against the Senior Partners because she had felt the loss of Wesley so acutely. With Wesley, her Quahazan, gone now, she had latched onto Angel enough that when he told her to do something, she did it. "When will she be here?"

"I don't know. Soon," he answered. "She's in New York now."

"OK," said Ellie slowly, looking at the wall behind Angel. "So, that means the fight is now eighteen-to-one. That's better." Seeing the look on Angel's face, Ellie continued more quickly, "I mean, it's not ideal, but it's better than twenty-five-to-one."

Taking a deep and unnecessary breath, Angel plowed on ahead, "Seven-to-one—about—would be even better."

"Angel," Ellie said, taking a deep breath herself. She needed to remember to keep her cool and just explain to Angel why Tony and his team couldn't help. If she could just explain, he would have to understand. He just had to. "Tony and Gibbs and the others just weren't trained for this. They don't have any experience with this kind of thing. They could die."

"Buffy," argued Angel, "Nobody has experience when they begin. That's how you get experience. Willow and Xander didn't have any experience when they began either, but they ended up being a big help to you."

"Yeah, until they kicked me out of my house."

"I'm sorry that happened, Buffy; I really am," said Angel sincerely. "But you know Tony well, right? I mean you married him."

"Yeah," said Ellie softly.

"So tell me: Would he do that to you?"

"No," said Ellie, near tears.

"Isn't that really what you're afraid of?" asked Angel. "You know that Tony, Gibbs, Ziva, and Tim can all handle themselves in a fight, but you're scared the fight will change them, turn them into what Xander and Willow became. You shouldn't be."

"Why shouldn't I be?" asked Ellie, openly crying now. "G-d, Angel, when Xander, Willow, and I were teenagers, everything seemed so great. I had made these great friends who stood by me, no matter what. They didn't care that I was the Slayer because, to them, I was just Buffy. I was their friend. I was a fashion-obsessed, bottle-blonde cheerleader, who, on occasion, killed some demons and saved the world. But then things changed. The darkness got them. And I was too wrapped up in my own problems even to see it happening. When Willow first began the magic, it seemed great. I had a Wicca on my side, something I had really needed. She really helped in the fight against evil. And then, I just missed the signs. It was like, one second she was sweet, shy Willow, and the next she was this junkie. She slipped into this darkness and I didn't even notice. And Xander: Working with us was destroying him. He just lost his ability to see the good; all he could see was the bad. He was going to marry Anya and then, instead of focusing on the good—like his love—all he could see was the bad: What _could_ happen—not what _would_ have happened. He curdled inside and there was nothing I could do. They wouldn't have ended up like that if it hadn't been for me. It was my fault. I dragged them into this world that they had no right being in. I destroyed them—their bodies and souls. And I lost them. Not only did they change, but it got to the point that I wasn't their friend anymore. I was the Slayer first and their friend second. I hated that. I was their weapon. What if that happens again, Angel? I couldn't bear it."

"That won't happen," assured Angel, his voice catching. He felt like crying. Despite the fact that Buffy had gotten married to this Tony guy, Angel still loved her. Angel would always love her. He didn't like seeing her in so much pain. The worst part was that he knew she was right. Who knows how Willow and Xander would have turned out if they hadn't gotten involved in the slaying, if they had just had that one brush with the supernatural and then gotten the hell out? "That won't happen," repeated Angel. "Willow and Xander were young when they began slaying. They couldn't properly cope with everything. They were just children."

"Children who I dragged into a war," interjected Ellie glumly.

"And you were a child, too," Angel reminded her. "You were sixteen, Buffy. You made mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes at that age."

"But I couldn't afford those mistakes!" cried Ellie.

"You can't control everything, Buffy. They weren't only your mistakes," yelled Angel. "Everyone messed up. Giles never should have let them help with the slaying. He was the adult; it was his responsibility to protect you and your friends. You always blame yourself for everything. When are we going to blame Willow and Xander? They chose to fight alongside you. Yes, they were children, just like you, but they still made that choice. You may not have seen what was happening to them, but they did. I know what happened in those years after I left, Buffy. Willow was warned again and again that she was becoming too involved in the magic and she kept going. She knew the consequences and by that point she was an adult. And Xander? He let his anger fester. He could have walked away at any point. Instead, they both decided to blame you; they made everything seem like it was your fault. And the worst part is that they made you believe it."

"It doesn't matter whose fault it is," said Ellie. "What matters is that the Slayer affected them."

"Yes," said Angel, "it affected _them_. Your husband and his people are federal agents. They are used to high pressure situations and they are used to fighting and death. It hasn't destroyed them yet. One more piece in the puzzle won't break them."

"But one more straw can break the camel's back," intoned Ellie.

"Buffy, what it really comes down to is how much faith you have in your husband. We're over and I know that. It's about you and Tony now. Can Tony handle our world? And, more importantly, is he the kind of man who would leave you because of it?"

Ellie thought back to her conversation with Tony the day before and the look in his eyes when he saw her kill those demons. But the memories didn't stop there. She remembered the previous Valentine's Day, when he had bought her a dozen roses. She remembered their wedding, one of the best days of her life. She remembered their first date. "No," she said, all the waver gone from her voice, "he wouldn't leave me. He loves me and I love him."

"So call him. We need him."

"OK," agreed Ellie. "Thank you, Angel."

"Yeah, sure, it's what I do," he responded. Before he could say anything else, the small Slayer had wrapped her arms around him and was hugging him in a bear hug that would hurt a normal man. He returned it, relishing the feel of her arms around him.

The hug ended all too quickly though and Ellie pulled out her mobile to call Tony. "Gather your team and bring them to Angel's motel room. We need your guys' help."

x TBC x

_It's time to pay the devil his due,_

_So be a dear and leave a review!_


	10. NCIS Team Assemble!

**Changes and Choices**

_Disclaimer: I do not own "Buffy: the Vampire Slayer," "Angel," or "NCIS."_

_AN: Thank you to my wonderful reviewers: _Nedy Rahn, aveave, sambam17, _and_ A reader. _Nedy Rahn, that's a really good idea; maybe that could be for a sequel. A reader, I've never seen "Criminal Minds," but maybe you should write that story._

**Chapter 10**

**NCIS Team Assemble!**

"So, what's the plan?" asked Tony, rubbing his hands together as he entered Angel's motel room. He was followed by Gibbs, Ziva, Tim, Abby, Ducky, and Jimmy.

"Whoa," said Ellie. "What are they doing here? I told you to bring Gibbs, Tim, and Ziva. Not everyone."

"They're my team," said Tony, a bit hurt by Ellie's commanding tone. Usually when Ellie used her domineering voice, she was joking. Today she just looked serious, too serious.

"They're no good in a fight," argued Ellie, sounding strained. "They'll just get in the way."

"Um, hello, we're standing right here," said Abby.

"I know," replied Ellie. "And you shouldn't be." Then, more softly, "You could get hurt."

"My dear girl, we work at NCIS; we know the risks," comforted Ducky. "We live with them every day."

"This is different," rejoined Ellie, running her hand through her hair.

"Buffy's right," said Angel, finally joining the conversation as he exited the shadows.

"Oh, I was wondering where you were. Great to see you," said Tony with false mirth.

Ellie realized she wasn't going to get anywhere with Tony and his team on this. Turning to Angel, she said, "Angel, they need to leave. I agreed to let the fighters help, not the others. You know what could happen."

"I know," soothed Angel. "But we won't let anything happen to them." Speaking even lower, so that only Buffy could hear him, Angel continued, "Remember, it won't be like before. We won't allow our friends to become casualties. Everything will be fine."

"Hey," interjected Tony, going alpha male on Angel, "do you maybe want to speak up a bit so the rest of us can hear you. You know, it would be polite."

"Tony," warned Ellie. "Now's not the time."

"Well, stop trying to send Abby and Ducky home," said Tony.

"And Jimmy," said Ellie. It had always been a pet peeve of hers the way Gibbs and his team treated Palmer. Sure he was a bit odd, but he was a good guy. She thought he would make one hell of a medical examiner one day.

"Look," said Gibbs, getting involved before Tony and Ellie could start fighting again. Even though Tony's devil-may-care attitude had been worrying, it was better than Tony just completely imploding. "How about Ducky and Abby ... and Jimmy stay for the planning and just don't come with us for the fight. They'll still be safe, but we'll have the brains behind our operation involved in the brains part."

"Fine," agreed Ellie grudgingly, realizing that further argument would not get her anywhere.

"So, catch us in," said Ziva.

"Up," corrected Ellie, finding herself smiling despite the dire circumstances.

Angel and Ellie spent the next hour telling the team everything they knew so far, only leaving out a few details. Angel had been about to spill the beans on the whole "true love" prophecy thing when Ellie cut him off, only telling the team the bare bones of the prophecy. "According to the prophecy, Angel and I can defeat the Sargniss. It doesn't tell us how," she had said abruptly, shooting Angel an annoyed glare—a glare that did not go unnoticed by Tony or Gibbs.

Just as they were finishing the briefing, there was a knock at the door. "You expecting someone?" asked Gibbs cautiously, moving to draw his weapon.

Ignoring Gibbs' actions, Angel strode to the door and pulled it open without even looking through the peephole first. Gibbs was about to say something about it when a lithe young woman walked in. She had brown eyes and soft brown hair. She had a sweet face but there was something else in it, something that made Gibbs wary. He would not want to admit to his team how unsettled he suddenly felt, but was glad to see Ziva shifting uncomfortably as well. Whatever was going on, Ziva had noticed it, too.

"Illyria," said Angel in greeting.

She did not respond, just entered the motel room.

Looking to Buffy, she said, "Slayer," as an odd compilation of greeting, warning, and disapproval.

"Hey, Illyria," said Ellie, feigning cheeriness. "You been staying away from the whiskey this time?" she teased.

"You should not speak to me in such a manner."

"OK," said Ellie, in that way of hers, when she would make her mouth incredibly small and round on the "O" and make the shrug seem like part of the word.

Resisting the urge to laugh, Angel wordlessly handed Illyria the notepad that had all their information in it. "We just finished going through all the information with them, but it's all there if you want to read it."

Nodding her head once curtly, Illyria took the proffered notepad.

"So ... who is this chick?" asked Tony cavalierly, earning him an un-amused glare from Illyria.

"That's Illyria," answered Ellie. "Don't piss her off."

"Why, what will she do to me?"

"Kill you," answered Ellie and Angel simultaneously. This prompted them to share a small smile with each other that did not make Tony happy.

He was trying to be open-minded and easy-going, but he was finding it more and more difficult as he spent more time with Angel. He knew there was something there between Ellie and Angel, and he just wasn't sure what it was. They were too comfortable with each other. Too informal. Trying to shake it off, he responded, "So, another fighter? Great! Now we have seven!"

"Five," answered Ellie and Angel, again at the same time, causing Tony's brow to furrow more.

"No," said Tim, stepping in, "seven. You two, her, Tony, Gibbs, Ziva, and me. Seven."

"Yeah, technically," conceded Ellie. "But, let's be honest, with your experience, you guys kind of count for half a person each." After a beat, "Sorry."

Tim stopped for a second, trying furiously to think of a retort, then, shoulders slumped, he just said, "No, it's fair."

"At least count us as two and a half," grumbled Gibbs, trying to keep the situation light despite the seriousness of the issue. "Ziver and I should at least count for three-fourths of a person each."

Ellie laughed, shaking her head. "You, Jethro, are a card," she said, neither accepting nor rejecting Gibbs' proposal.

Letting the light moment sit for a few seconds, Angel then sobered. "Abby, Ducky, Jimmy, will you guys help me make plans?"

"Yeah, and I'll go over fighting techniques with these guys," said Ellie, indicating the rest of the NCIS people.

Ellie had been sparring with Tony and his team for nearly an hour when Illyria pushed the papers away from herself and announced, "I have finished. I require clarification."

"What's up, Illyria?" asked Angel, pulling himself away from the plans laid out in front of him.

"How will you attempt to halt the Sargniss?"

"Well, we're working on attack plans now," said Angel.

"And I'm teaching these guys how to fight demons; you know, how to account for the size and strength difference," added Ellie.

"This does not answer my question," continued Illyria. "What part does 'love' play?"

"What?" asked Ellie sharply. Had she been drinking, she would have done a spit-take.

"The prophecy states that 'love' will defeat the Sargniss," answered Illyria, either not noticing the alarm on Ellie's face or not caring. "How will this be accomplished?"

"What's she talking about?" asked Tony, confused and alarmed.

"The prophecy," answered Illyria, quirking an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I know," answered Tony peevishly. "The 'prophecy' says though that Ellie and Angel are going to beat the demons. It mentions them. It doesn't talk about love. It says: 'Ellie and Angel will defeat the Sargniss.' I know what I'm talking about."

Before Ellie could jump in, Illyria responded, "Clearly you do not. The prophecy does not mention 'Ellie' or Angel by name. The prophecy states: 'The ensouled vampire striving for redemption will join the thrice-dead Slayer to defeat the Clan of Blood and only through their true love can they be victorious.'"

"It doesn't say that," argued Tony. Turning to Ellie, anguish etched on his face, "Does it?" Ellie tried to look him in the face, but failed. Angel just stared at the wall, unable to look in Tony's direction. Angel knew how badly it had hurt him when he had found out Buffy was married; he could only imagine how painful it would be for Tony to hear that prophecy. Although Tony was his rival, he didn't want to see the man suffer. It wouldn't give him any joy; he was over that. "Well, somebody answer me!" shouted Tony when he saw that neither Ellie nor Angel would make eye contact with him.

Mustering her courage, Ellie let out a pain-filled sigh and said in a small voice, "It's what Illyria said. The whole prophecy is that only through 'our true love' can Angel and I defeat the Sargniss." Seeing Tony begin to turn away, Ellie was quick to add, "But we don't even know what that means. Prophecies are always ridiculously vague. It could mean anything."

"I think it's pretty clear," said Tony caustically. "You and your ex share a 'true love.' What's unclear about that?"

"Tony, can we talk outside?" asked Ellie, near tears … again. She liked to consider herself a strong, modern woman, but there was something about her relationships that just always made her cry. Although, she had to admit, these past few days were probably the first time Tony had made her cry in earnest. Before it had always been stupid concerns, like when he accidentally slammed the car door on her thumb.

"What's there to talk about?" he demanded.

"Tony," she pleaded, appealing to his better self.

"Fine," he said, walking out the motel room without waiting to see if Ellie was following him or not. Ellie walked out of the room a beat later, looking at the ground, unable to make eye contact with anyone.

At first Ellie didn't see Tony anywhere and was afraid he had left. She blinked epileptically, trying to keep the tears from her eyes. Then she saw him. He was sitting in the backseat of his SUV, waiting for her and looking extremely pissed off.

She slid into the backseat with him and sat back, eyes closed. What should she say to him? What _could_ she say to him? She had lied to him—more than once. She had kept her true self hidden from him for their entire marriage. And now, he had incontrovertible proof that she loved another man. What could she say?

"I'm so sorry."

"Yeah, me too," he said testily, not giving her any leeway.

"Tony, it's not what it looks like."

"Really? Because it looks like you love Angel. Can you deny that? Are you going to sit here and lie to me even more and tell me you don't love him?"

"No. I can't. I do love him. I will always love him."

Tony's shoulders slumped; although he had known Ellie would say that, he had truly been hoping she would deny it. Sometimes the lies were better, nicer.

And then he heard her say, "But I love you, too."

"How can that be?" he asked, not angry, just resigned.

"Tony, can I tell you a story?" she asked. "It isn't really a fun story—not for me to tell or for you to hear—but you need to hear it. And … and you can't interrupt me. If you do, I may not be able to finish telling you everything. I just need to get it out."

"OK," agreed Tony. He knew he wouldn't want to hear what she had to say, but he knew that he had to. "Go."

Ellie took a deep breath. "I was sixteen when I met Angel. It was a really hard time for me. I had just moved to a new town, midway through sophomore year. I had been kicked out of my old high school because of the slaying. I was so tired of it, so done. I wanted nothing more than to just retire and call it quits. But, wouldn't you know it, I had moved to the Hellmouth, a center of mystical activity. But, I made friends, and that was great. And I met Angel." Here she took a deep breath and then allowed herself a small smile as she remembered their meeting in that dark alley when he had warned her about the Harvest. "He was dark and mysterious and really good looking. I was entirely enamored of him. At that point in my life, all I wanted was a nice, normal boyfriend. It wasn't going to happen. I tried. So, there was Angel. He was pretty close.

"At first I didn't even know he was vampire. I was horrified when I found out. We kissed and he vamped and I screamed. But we worked through it. We did. I decided that I didn't care. And there was something so angsty and attractive about us being together—so 'Romeo and Juliet.' A vampire in love with a vampire slayer. Sometimes I think I loved the notion as much as I loved him.

"But then things got hard. I loved him so much and I had all these plans for us and then it all went wrong. It's funny, they always say, 'Don't have sex in high school. You'll regret it.' I regretted it big time. I lost my virginity to him on my seventeenth birthday. The thing is: The curse that gave him his soul, it had a loophole, a really terrible clause. We had sex and he lost his soul. True happiness, that's the ticket. He lost his soul and he became a monster." Ellie's voice broke a bit and she had to take several steadying breaths. Tony kept silent, giving her the time she needed. "He stalked me and drew creepy pictures of me and he killed Willow's fish. And he killed Ms. Calendar. She worked at my school and … she was part of my group. She was a technopagan and she had been trying to help when he killed her. He broke her neck and left her for my Watcher to find. It was cruel and painful and … I don't know. I can't even describe it. I've never been great with words," she said, chuckling slightly in a self-deprecating manner.

"He tried to end the world and he had Kendra killed and it was all my fault." She started crying again and there was another long pause. "I killed him. I had to. I loved him and I sent him to Hell. Right before I killed him, the soul restoration spell worked and, for a brief moment, he was Angel again. The monster he had been for the past few months was gone and the man I loved was back. He didn't remember any of it. He … he was so sweet. So, I kissed him one last time, I told him I loved him, I told him to close his eyes, and then I killed him. I ran him through with a sword. I will never forget the look on his face when I did that. I still dream about it sometimes. He looked betrayed."

Without even thinking about it, Tony reached over and wiped a tear off of Ellie's face. For the first time since beginning her speech, she looked at Tony and smiled at him, hiccupping slightly from crying.

She steadied herself and continued. "I freaked out. I ran away and spent a summer in LA, just pretending I was someone else, someone new, someone who had never been in love. I eventually realized—for what must have been the twentieth time—that I couldn't run away from my responsibilities. I came back and started up the slaying again. But he came back, a few months later. We don't know how or why, but he did. Time moves differently in other dimensions though; he was in Hell for hundreds of years. He was feral when he came back, but I still loved him so I nursed him back to health.

"We tried to make it work; we did. But, eventually, he realized that we couldn't. Yeah," she said, smiling at Tony, "_he_ realized it. I was still trying so hard and refusing to see what was right in front of me. He wanted me to have a normal life—to fall in love, to get married, to have kids. What we have—he wanted that for me. And I love him for that." Ellie turned in the seat to face Tony and took his hands in her own smaller ones. "I do love him. I will always love him. But I love you, too. I want to be with you now, not him. I want to be married to you and have your kids some day and grow old together. Angel and I will never have that and we both know it. And don't think for one second that you're a consolation prize. I chose you, Tony. I could have stayed with Angel. After he left, we spent years apart, but then, when I was twenty-two, I could have chosen to stay with him. I didn't. We love each other, but it's over. Do Angel and I have 'true love'? Yes. Do we also? Yes. Going through everything I've been through, I've learned that soul-mates don't exist. There is more than one person out there for everyone and it doesn't mean that, if you've loved once, you can never love again. Angel and I have a really complicated past, but that's what it is: the past." She stopped talking and looked at Tony, waiting for a response. When she saw that he was still respecting her moratorium on conversation, she said, "OK?"

Tony nodded his head a few times as he tried to absorb everything she had just said. Finally, he asked, "Does he … does Angel know it's in the past?"

"Yes," said Ellie, then, "I don't know. I think so. I know he's had girlfriends."

"But he kissed you; Gibbs saw it," persisted Tony.

Ellie chuckled. "You know, I had this same conversation a while ago with a boyfriend after he saw me and Angel kiss. I'm going to tell you the same thing I told him: It was a hello. It doesn't mean we're getting back together or anything. You and me, Tony, we're solid on my end."

After taking a leaf out of Ellie's book and taking a few deep breaths, Tony said, "mine too," before pulling Ellie into his arms and kissing her passionately. All the relief and love and comfort just pulled together, making it one of their best-ever kisses.

After a few moments, Tony pulled away and said, "We should get back inside."

"Yeah," said Ellie a little breathlessly. "Let's go."

x TBC x

_This story is beginning to wind down, so be certain to leave an in-progress review while you still can. Dun-dun-dun._


	11. Marching into Battle

**Changes and Choices**

_Disclaimer: I do not own "Buffy: the Vampire Slayer," "Angel," or "NCIS."_

_AN: I don't know anything about the geography of DC. Things might be a bit off. While you're pretending vampires exist, just pretend DC is laid out exactly as this story suggests._

_AN2: Thank you to my reviewers: _Nedy Rahn, A fan, sambam17, _and_ dreameralways.

**Chapter 11**

**Marching Into Battle**

Today was just not her day. Sarah Greenberg knew she shouldn't be out walking … alone … so near to dusk … in the warehouse district. "Stupid Adam," she muttered as she quickened her pace. She and her on-again, off-again boyfriend were supposed to meet at this chic restaurant downtown, but, for the umpteenth time, he had stood her up. _We're definitely off-again_, she thought bitterly. This was just like him. He tells her to meet him in a not-so-nice part of town and then suddenly has to work late, leaving her to find a way home. She knew she didn't have enough money for a cab and, according to her phone, the nearest bus stop was still a few blocks away. Damn.

Without any warning, the hair at the nape of her neck rose to stand at attention. She didn't know why, but she suddenly felt very freaked out. She quickened her pace again, nearly running now. _Thank G-d I'm wearing flats_, she thought. Her friends were always telling her to dress up and wear heels and she always argued that you never knew when you were going to have to run. Flats were safer and way more comfortable. She was tall enough to get away with them. _I probably don't have to run now_, she thought, laughing at her foolishness. Nevertheless, she didn't slacken her pace.

She whirled around when she heard a trash can clatter to the pavement behind her. She watched the can slowly roll across the alley until it finally stopped. OK, she was über-freaked out now. After watching the can for a moment, she shook herself out of her reverie and took off again, now running. Faster than she could blink, however, this _thing_ jumped out at her. She didn't even know what to make of it. It was like a crocodile on steroids. It hissed at her and she screamed. She turned, ready to flee back the way she had come, but all she saw were three more of the creatures blocking her exit. She began spinning around, looking for an escape, any escape, but she just kept seeing more and more of the creatures.

The Sargniss closed ranks on Sarah Greenberg, knowing they had found their seventh victim.

~ x ~ x ~ x ~

"It's 10 p.m.," announced Angel unnecessarily. They had all been staring at the clock for the past half hour, knowing the fighters would head out when the clock struck 10. They had all been jumpy for the past hour, ever since Abby had gone to the bathroom and come out shaking.

"Blood," she had whispered shakily, trying to rub the blood off of her hands.

Gibbs had rushed over immediately. "Where are you hurt?"

"I'm not," Abby said, crying softly now, still trying to wipe her hands off with one of the bathroom's fluffy and now-soiled towels.

"She's fine," announced Angel, returning from the bathroom. Turning to Ellie, he said, "Blood is coming out of the faucets."

"What?" Tony had asked, alarmed beyond belief. "What does that mean?"

"It means it's the apocalypse," Ellie had said in a truly weary voice. Her voice had bespoken the commonality that these types of things had once had in her life.

Since then, they had all been a bit on edge. It didn't help that, as they were packing up their weapons, they heard a distinct thud on the window outside. "What was that?" asked Jimmy, who was avidly trying to stay out of everyone's way. Since he, Abby, and Ducky were remaining behind, they were making themselves somewhat scarce now. They had tried to argue that they could go and just wait in the car, incase anyone needed medical attention. Ellie had shot them down so quickly they practically felt whiplash.

Illyria glided over to the window and peered out. "It was a bird," she said, no emotion in her voice.

"Oh no," said Jimmy softly, "I hope it's OK."

"It's dead," said Illyria, either not registering the worry in Jimmy's voice or not caring. Just as Illyria let the curtain fall back into place, they heard another thud. "It was another bird," announced Illyria. The end of her sentence was punctuated by several more thuds as more and more birds dive-bombed the surrounding buildings, bludgeoning themselves to death like tiny, feathered kamikazes.

"It's the apocalypse all right," said Ellie wistfully.

"And now everyone knows," said Gibbs.

"What do you mean?" asked Ellie.

"Ellie, blood is coming out the faucets and birds are committing mass suicide out there," said Gibbs. "People are going to figure it out."

"No they won't," argued Ellie.

"How can you say that?" asked Tim.

"People always rationalize what they can't understand somehow," explained Ellie. "The blood? Who knows? Maybe it wasn't blood. Maybe some kind of, I don't know, red algae got into the water supply and made it look like blood. And the birds? Maybe airplanes messed up their little bird brains. Or maybe the electrical currents from the city scrambled their signals. Or maybe it will just go down as another mass bird die-off that scientists try to explain and eventually people just decide is weird. There have been a few of those lately. Now, I'm not saying all those were apocalypses; some of them were just weird science things. But they will help with this one."

"People don't believe things that they don't want to believe," supplied Angel helpfully.

"It makes sense," said Abby. "Like how people believe crop circles are just made with boards as pranks. Because it's much more comforting for them to believe it was just kids. What is it really?" she asked Ellie.

"Uh, kids with boards pulling a prank," answered Ellie shrugging her shoulders.

"We've never seen any evidence of aliens," added Angel.

"That's not entirely true," countered Ellie, much to Abby's delight. "I mean there was the Queller demon."

"The what?" asked Angel, much preferring to hear Buffy's voice than the sound of birds slamming into buildings. It reminded him of the apocalypse in LA before the sun went out. The same thing had happened then. Before all that had ended, he had gone evil, lost Cordelia, and needed to give up his son. Needless to say, not happy memories.

"Oh, the Queller," said Ellie, pulling up some old memories, glad to be able to keep talking and help everyone remain calm as they waited out the birds. "It was this demon summoned from the moon to kill crazy people. We were having this problem in Sunnydale at the time because this Big Bad, this goddess—Glory—she was sucking out people's brains and turning them insane. So, this guy, Ben, summoned the Queller and it crashed to earth in this hollow meteorite and started killing people. It was this creepy thing, all slimy and as fast as the Flash. It was horrifying. And, of course, knowing my luck, it ended up in my house, trying to kill my mother."

"Why was it trying to kill your mother?" asked Tony. "She wasn't, um, insane, was she?"

Before Ellie could answer, Angel asked, "Was that when she had the tumor?"

"Yeah," said Ellie softly. "It was pressing on her brain, making her a bit wacky." She was silent for a moment, caught up in the bad memories, but, realizing that she was wallowing, and so not wanting to be a broody Angel, she snapped herself out of it. "Anyway, I killed it with a kitchen knife. It was pretty nasty."

"Wow," said Abby, looking at Ellie a bit as if she were her new hero.

"But it was a demon, not an alien," reinforced Ellie. "It was summoned with a spell, not a … a … E.T.-phone-home thing."

Angel was relieved to hear the thuds of birds hitting buildings becoming more sporadic. "I think it's leveling off; we should leave soon. Gear up," he said. Looking to Illyria, he said, "Maybe you should change into your fight pants."

Illyria cocked her head slightly and then let the change happen, eliciting gasps from everyone except Ellie and Angel. Slowly, the red armor spread across Illyria's body, replacing the cute outfit she had been wearing; her skin grew paler and became webbed with bright blue veins. Her eyes turned bright blue, as if she were taking melange, while her lips tinted light blue, as if she were suffering from hypothermia. The entire change took less than five seconds.

"What are you?" breathed Tony.

"I am the god-king Illyria and you will worship me," she replied imperiously. To this day, Angel did not know if Illyria still believed it when she said these things or if she just said them out of habit. It had been a long time since she had ruled a kingdom and she had not shown a desire to reclaim her power in many years.

"Don't worry, guys," supplied Ellie. "She's on our side." She added "now" under her breath, much to Tony's chagrin. She met his questioning look with a shrug and a small smile, which elicited one from him in return.

With that the fighters—Ellie, Angel, Illyria, Tony, Gibbs, Ziva, and Tim—headed for the warehouse district, leaving Ducky, Abby, and Jimmy to sit and worry, as they often did when the team went off.

When the team arrived at the warehouse, Angel and Ellie went off first to do some last-minute reconnaissance while the others waited for them.

"OK," said Angel, once he and his ex had returned. "We have about an hour until they perform the ritual and end the world. There are about fifty Sargniss wandering around in there."

"There are three usable entrances," said Ellie, cutting in. "There are the big doors in front, the truck-loading area on the side next to the abandoned coffee warehouse, and a small door at the back." Tony blinked at his wife, unaccustomed to seeing her take charge like this. She was so serious, confident. Tony liked it.

"What about the next victim?" asked Gibbs, unused to having others run operations.

"They have a woman tied up in there," answered Ellie. "She doesn't appear to be injured … yet."

"Right," said Gibbs, "getting her out is the top priority."

"I have to disagree," said Ellie. "Stopping the Sargniss is our top priority." Seeing Gibbs' disapproving look, she continued, "Look, sometimes there are casualties. I don't want her to die, but, if she does, it's not the end of the world, whereas the Sargniss finishing that ritual is the end of the world, literally."

Gibbs wanted to argue but he knew Ellie was right. Stopping the Clan of Blood was more important. As much as he hated to say it, a part of him really respected Ellie for having said so. It wasn't easy to admit what she just had; it took someone in real control of their emotions and someone who knew what was really important. As a Marine, he knew that sometimes there were casualties and, as much you hated them, they were a part of war and you had to accept them.

"It's the mission that matters," said Ellie, echoing what had been her mantra during the war with The First.

"I think we should split up," said Angel. "That warehouse is a big open space; we aren't going to take them by stealth or surprise. Let's have people at each door."

"Yeah," agreed Ellie. Then, speaking mostly to Angel, "Let me know if you think this is a bad idea, but I was thinking me, Tim, and Gibbs at the side door; you, Tony, and Ziva at the front door; and Illyria at the small door at the back. I think the majority of them will rush the side and front door, leaving Illyria to go all kung fu on them from behind."

Angel thought it over before agreeing with her. He didn't like the idea of Illyria being alone, but he knew she could handle it. It was the best course of action.

Tony wasn't convinced though. "Are you sure I shouldn't go with you?" Tony asked Ellie, not too keen on the idea of being split up from his wife, and even less keen on the idea of being paired with her ex.

"Tony," said Ellie warningly and that was all it took. He knew that tone of voice and knew not to argue. Some might call him pussy-whipped; he called himself a survivalist.

They split into their groups and headed for their respective doors. When they burst in, the scene turned to chaos very quickly. Ellie was right; the Sargniss did rush the front and side doors, leaving Illyria free to dispatch them. She moved quickly and efficiently, but, after taking out three Sargniss, she was becoming overwhelmed. The Sargniss had turned on her and were regarding her as a threat, transferring the majority of their forces to Illyria, Ellie, and Angel.

"Angel," shouted Ellie, as she executed a perfect flip-kick, "we need to do something. There are too many of them."

"Just keep fighting," urged Angel, having no solutions for her. And fight they did. They quickly became bloodied, but they didn't let that stop them.

Tim was man enough to admit when he was in over his head. Now was one of those times. He had been in fights before, but never like this. All his past fights had been one-on-one or close to it, with opponents matched better than they were now. He had always come out of those times OK, but he wasn't so sure about now. This was a melee fight and, although he fought melee in _World of Warcraft_ all the time, this was real life. He wasn't an Elf Lord here; he was basically a gnome.

Ziva, on the other hand, had found herself on the wrong side of fight more than once. She knew how to cause maximum damage while dancing out of the way of the most damaging blows. Nevertheless, she was still being hit and she was beginning to feel the pain. Her muscles were sore and she felt a black eye blooming. She kept going though, while attempting to keep a protective eye on her teammates. She saw a demon approach Gibbs from behind and she rushed over to help her boss out. She tackled the demon, banging her knee as they both fell. Then, before the demon could recover from being tackled, Ziva plunged her knife into its sternum, effectively ending its life.

After repelling his own opponent, Gibbs turned and gave Ziva an appreciative nod. He knew he was a solid fighter, but this was a bit beyond him. Nevertheless, he persisted. Although Ziva had just saved him, his main concern was keeping his team alive. He was doing everything in his power to keep an eye on all of them, but it was proving difficult.

Unlike Gibbs, Tony did not have eyes for anyone but Ellie. Intellectually he knew that his wife didn't need his protection. He found himself amazed, as he had been when being held captive by the Sargniss just two days earlier, by Ellie's grace and strength. It was like watching a ballet. She twirled out of the way of blows and seemed to glide across the warehouse floor as she inflicted damage everywhere. If this had been one of McGeek's video games, she would be amassing massive damage points. Tony wryly though of Mohammed Ali's mantra: Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. Tony was forced to tear his eyes from Ellie, however, when a demon came at him. He took the hit from the demon, but kept going, refusing to go down.

He seemed to lose track of everyone else as he focused on his fight. It took him way too long to take the demon down—at least in his own estimation—but he eventually did. Had Ellie been watching though, she would have proud. He found it odd, however, that the fight had lasted as long as it did—where were the demon's buddies? Why had they not come to assist their mate? That was when he saw two of the demons dragging a bound woman to the pentagram in the center of the warehouse floor. She looked terrified. Tony looked around, hoping to notify Ellie or Angel, or even Illyria—as much as she scared him—but saw that they were all engaged in their own battles. It looked like this was going to come down to him.

After taking a few deep breaths, Tony surged forward like hell on wheels, swinging his sword like a madman. The demons barely reacted. Almost as if bored, one let go of the woman and moved to intercept Tony, moving with the ease of someone who knows he is not in any real danger.

But he underestimated Tony. Tony was angry and that anger was fueling him. Tony did not know that his wife had once counseled a fellow Slayer, telling her that her emotions gave her power; nevertheless, he would have agreed. He fought like a man with nothing to lose. And, really, when you had felt your entire world crash down around you just a couple of days before, what else could you do? With one efficient blow, Tony had killed the first demon in the duo. Now the other one began to take notice. It cavalierly backhanded its victim. Sarah Greenberg was stunned by the hit and, as she fell to the ground, she neither saw nor heard anything.

That almost-casual smack made Tony—who had already been seeing red—see crimson. This fight did not go so smoothly though. Tony took many hits, hard hits that would take their toll later. He knew he was going to look like a walking bruise the next day, and probably for the next week. But Tony made sure to give as good as he got. The tide turned thanks to Illyria, who had wandered over between her own battles and grabbed the demon by the back of the neck, lifting him off of the ground with one hand. Tony, rather than be annoyed at her interference and the lack of confidence in him that it showed, took advantage of the help and drove his sword through the demon's abdomen. As he pulled the sword out, a stretch of the demon's intestines came with it.

"Thanks," he said to Illyria.

"Help her," said Illyria in response, nodding to the Sargniss' intended victim.

Tony scooped the dazed woman up into his arms and carried her out of the warehouse and into the dark alley beyond it. Propping her up against the wall, Tony tenderly held her hands until she was able to focus on him.

At her alarmed look, Tony quickly soothed, "Shh, it's going to be all right. Don't worry. You're safe now."

"Wh-what were th-those things?" she asked, now in tears.

"Don't worry about it," said Tony as a placeholder. Then, "You know, some freaks in masks. But we're taking care of it; don't worry." He knew it was a flimsy explanation, but she seemed to accept it anyway. Ellie had said that it was ridiculously easy to keep people from believing in things in which they didn't want to believe.

"Wh-what do I d-do now?"

"Go home," said Tony. He felt odd, letting a kidnap victim just wander off, but what else could he do. It wasn't like he was going to write up a report on this. And, when he headed back inside—after seeing the woman, whose name he had never even asked, disappear into the shadows—he knew he had made the right decision. They needed him inside the warehouse.

There were still too many demons. It was fifteen minutes to midnight and the group was still locked in a deathly struggle. Although the intended sacrifice had tottered off, Tony knew—his gut just told him—that this thing wasn't over yet. Seeing Tim in distress, Tony went to help.

Which is why he didn't see when Ellie became overwhelmed by demons. Two grabbed her, while a third hit her at the base of her skull with the hilt of the ceremonial sword used to kill the sacrifices. She lost consciousness and was taken away. Her last thought, however, was that the sword was beautiful in the glimpse she had seen. Though still coated in the blood of previous victims, Ellie could make out lovely swirls and symbols carved into the blade, with smooth, sleek wood inlaid in them.

By the time Angel finished with the demon he had been combatting, she had already been removed and he didn't see her anywhere. He just assumed she had followed some demons outside and, shrugging, he kept fighting.

Angel did not see Ellie again until a minute to midnight when he saw a demon carrying her, bound, to the center of the pentagram and another demon was holding the ceremonial sword, a beautiful sword inlaid with wood, that made Angel shudder involuntarily when he saw it. In a moment Angel understood what was going on: The Sargniss planned to sacrifice Ellie as their seventh offering. Surely a Slayer's blood was stronger and more effective than an average person's. Ellie was awake and struggling against the ties, but injured and unable to summon enough strength to escape. Angel could smell her blood even at this distance and over the stench of the Sargniss' blood. "Buffy," he screamed as he took off for her.

It was like something out of Tony's worst nightmares—and not just because there was a vampire present. From the moment he heard Angel yell his wife's former name, time seemed to slow down for Tony. There was his wife, injured and vulnerable, being carried to her death, and he was powerless to stop it. He tried to get to her, but it felt like he was wading through mud. He just wasn't moving quickly enough. The feeling reminded him of when he had gotten the plague. Again, it was something old and destructive, of which he had been previously ignorant, which was now destroying his life. And, like then, all of his training was useless. He was far outmatched. At least then he had had Kate by his side—but now she was dead, too.

With horror, he saw the blade come down, aimed at Ellie's torso.

Angel used his vampire speed to the best of his ability. He would not—could not—watch the woman he loved die … again. Especially not like this. She had given up so much to save the world—her death couldn't be the thing that ended it once and for all. He wouldn't let that happen to her memory. He found himself long beyond caring about the world and its fate—he just didn't want her to suffer. And he knew it would hurt her to think that she played a part in ending the world. Nevertheless, he found it almost fitting that the world would end if she died now; the world shouldn't exist without her. It was a crime against nature. Even before they had begun to date, he had known that. He had dreaded the thought of her dying as she fought the Master. Part of that was for selfish reasons—he had already loved her, he always had—but he knew the world would lose its shine without her. That beauty that sparked artists and writers to recreate the world around them was fueled by her; there would be no point for art with her gone. He knew this to be true. During those three months when she had died after the Glory incident, the world had lost all its splendor, all its wonder. It had become a dead, cold thing, bereft of the sublime, just like him. He couldn't let that happen again.

Just as the blade was coming down, Angel did the last thing he could think to do, the final act to save his beloved. He dove, covering her body with his own, becoming a blanket to keep her lively warmth in, not caring that the sword could kill him, if the wood-engraved blade even approached his heart. An act of true love and pure devotion, flinging all thoughts of his own well-being from his mind.

Ellie gasped as the sword plunged all the way through Angel and entered her. She could feel his cold blood flowing onto her, mixing and mingling with her own warm blood. It was a direct hit: the blade had certainly hit Angel's heart as it had entered Ellie's abdomen—and yet Angel didn't dust, but just continued looking at his love. He silently thanked whatever Powers were listening for delaying his death so that he could remain with Buffy just a bit longer.

Tony, rather than stopping when he saw Ellie and Angel stabbed, ran at the Sargniss who had just stabbed his wife and cut its head off in one fell swoop. His rage and horror and fear and love and despair and longing were all rolled into one, adding strength to his strike.

He reached down to remove the sword still pinning Angel and Ellie together, but was thrown back as the ground began to shake. The tremors became violently strong as Ellie's blood pooled across the pentagram.

"It's begun; we failed," said Ziva, as she, Tim, and Gibbs joined Tony, having dispatched the rest of the Sargniss by that point. Illyria stood on the other side of the pentagram, staring at the spectacle in front of her as the ground rolled beneath her feet.

"But … but the prophecy …" spluttered Tim. This was the first time since this had all begun that he truly thought they could lose. He had just assumed that, because of the prophecy and the fighting prowess of a Slayer, a vampire, and a god-king, they would win. It was sinking in now though that the good guys wouldn't just win because they were the good guys.

Angel was vaguely aware of what was happening. Although the ceremonial sword had clearly not killed him, as he had not dusted, losing Buffy would kill him. He tried to move, to lift himself off of her, to protect her small body from his crushing weight, but the earth's shaking slammed him back down on top of her.

Ellie turned her head to look at him as she slowly lost consciousness. Putting her lips to his ear, she whispered, "I love you." And Angel knew she meant it. She wasn't just saying it because they were skewered on the same sword or as payment for Angel taking the brunt of the blow in her stead. She meant every word.

And Angel knew that she knew he felt the same way and always would. Therefore, all he said was, "Close your eyes."

Almost as if these words were some ancient and sacred spell, the earthquake began to subside. As Angel's blood continued to mix with his love's blood, the ritual began to weaken, to lose its potency. The pentagram had been eagerly soaking up the Slayer's powerful blood, taking its sacrifice, but it was unable to differentiate between the blood of the Slayer and the dead blood of the vampire who loved her. As their blood mixed, continuing to seep from their aligned wounds, it became one thick pool. When, in an act of desperate love, Angel had thrown his body over Ellie's and taken the sword for her, he had spoiled the blood sacrifice, rendering the seventh and final sacrifice impotent.

Although Ellie was injured, she would survive and, as he looked down at her soft features, Angel was content in that. He knew he could handle losing his love to another man as long as he didn't lose her to death.

x TBC x

_Phew! I think I deserve a review after all that._

_One more chapter to go!_


	12. Epilogue - Same Life, New Path

**Changes and Choices**

_Disclaimer: I do not own "Buffy: the Vampire Slayer," "Angel," or "NCIS."_

_AN: I want to thank my Chapter 11 reviewers: _mardar_ and _Netchka3_. I also want to thank everyone who stuck with this story week after week, especially those who reviewed. This is my most-read story!_

**Chapter 12 – Epilogue**

**Same Life, New Path**

"Tony," called Ellie exasperatedly. "Would you please stop fooling around and set the table? The guests will be here soon." She had been trying to get him to set the table for nearly an hour now and was nearing the end of her rope. And, by guests, she meant Tony's team. Although they saw them every day at work, this was a special occasion.

It was New Year's Eve and, although it came every year, this one seemed monumental. A lot had changed this past year. All her secrets had come out and, contrary to what she had thought, it had not destroyed her life.

"Yo," said Faith, slipping in behind Ellie. She had arrived a few days ago to spend the holidays with Ellie and Tony. "Your boy toy not doing what you say? Damn B, you gotta do somethin' about that."

"I know," said Ellie laughing. She never would have believed ten years earlier that Faith would be her best friend, but she couldn't deny it now. Before, she had been too embarrassed and secretive to have Faith over, but not now. Tony may not understand Faith—and may even be a little scared of her—but he was always polite and supportive.

He had been seeing an entirely new side of Ellie since he had found out she was the Slayer, and he liked it.

The phone rang and Ellie grunted in frustration, anticipating one of the team calling to say they were going to be late or canceling. "Hello," said Ellie into the phone, letting an undercurrent of threat enter her voice.

_"I don't know what I did to piss you off, but I'm sorry,"_ said Angel quickly.

Chuckling, Ellie lightened her tone and said, "Happy New Year."

_"Happy New Year, Buffy."_

Cupping the receiver in her hand, Ellie called, "Faith, can you go 'help' Tony set the table. And by help, I mean 'make sure he does it.'"

"No prob. And tell Angel I say 'hey,'" answered Faith, making use of her Slayer hearing.

"OK," agreed Ellie, turning back to the phone.

_"I heard her,"_ said Angel, before Ellie could deliver Faith's message.

"That never stops being creepy," said Ellie. "So, please tell me you aren't calling to tell me that some huge world-destroying evil has just been unleashed and there is a prophecy that says we have to destroy it and that you're on your way here to make sure the prophecy comes true and you're going to get into a pissing contest with Tony and I'm going to spend days crying and then I'm going to have to recover from being stabbed with a sword."

_"Ugh, do you have to do this every time I call you?"_ asked Angel.

"Yep," said Ellie, with a big smile on her face.

_"And I will say _again_ that I will not drag you into any fighting unless I absolutely have to,"_ promised Angel. He knew that although her secret was out, she was still not ready to go back to the slaying. She was basically on a permanent hiatus. And, frankly, he was all right with that. He could never have the nice, normal life that you saw on TV, but she could and he was glad that she was living that life.

"So, why did you call?" asked Ellie.

_"I was really just calling to wish you a happy New Year,"_ said Angel.

"Thanks." She was really glad to be back in touch with Angel. She hadn't seen him since the whole Sargniss disaster. He had left a few days after their joint stabbing, once he was content that she was all right and that he wouldn't suddenly dust. He stayed long enough to make certain Ellie was settled and to make sure there were no more Sargniss. That was it.

Washington DC had recovered really quickly from the earthquake as well and no one was any the wiser that the world had nearly ended. The NCIS crew had found it hard to believe how naïve people could be. They found it odd that their entire world had changed drastically and yet the world still looked the same and no one else was affected. It always seemed that when something big happened to you, it should be mirrored in the world around you. But life went on and DC returned to business as usual. They had gone back to work and continued solving murders of the human variety. It was all so normal, too normal. Nevertheless, with Ellie helping them, they had all readjusted and recovered.

"Who's on the phone?" asked Tony popping up behind Ellie. She jumped gamely, even though she had known he was there. They both knew that it was nearly impossible to sneak up on her with her Slayer senses, but they both played along anyway.

"It's Angel," she said.

"Oh," said Tony, grabbing the phone. "Hey, Angel. How's it going?"

"_Fine, Tony. How are you?"_

"Great," answered Tony. "Are you calling because there is some huge demon thing happening and you need Ellie to help you fight them because of some ancient prophecy that says only you two can defeat it or else the world will end and then you have to make me all annoyed at you and make Ellie cry and get stabbed?"

"_Why do you guys do this to me?"_ asked Angel.

"We get what fun we can," answered Tony, dead serious.

"_I was just calling to wish you guys a happy New Year."_

"Happy New Year, man," said Tony, before handing the phone back to his wife.

"_Buffy, G-d help me, I think I like that guy,"_ said Angel.

"Wow, we have so much in common, Angel. I like him, too," joked Ellie.

"_It was nice talking to you,"_ he said.

"Same here."

"_I'll call in a few weeks."_

"Make sure you do," said Ellie. "I like hearing from you and I have something to tell you, but not now."

Hanging up the phone, Ellie went into the kitchen to put the champagne for midnight on ice.

Walking into the kitchen area, Tony saw Ellie looking at the champagne. "Nuh-uh," he said. "No alcohol for you. I don't think I can handle Cavewoman Ellie."

"Ugh," groaned Ellie. "I never should have told you that story."

"Au contraire, Ellie, you should have told me that story years ago."

Rolling her eyes, Ellie said, "Anyway, you know I won't be having any alcohol tonight."

"Yeah," said Tony, grinning at Ellie, with a smile so big it threatened to split his face in half. "So, we're telling the team tonight, right?" he asked.

"Yeah," said Ellie. She had no idea how the team would take her pregnancy, but she really didn't care. She was tired of secrets and she and Tony were too excited not to tell everyone.

This was what she had always wanted her life to be and she had finally realized that having this life did not mean she had to throw away everything her life had been before.

x The End x

_Th-th-that's all folks! Please review!_


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